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North and East to benefit from 1.6 mn Sinopharm doses donated by China

Published

5 years ago

2021/07/28

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with Chinese Ambassador in Colombo Qi Zhenhong (pic courtesy PMD)

China has donated another consignment of 1.6 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to Sri Lanka to fight the pandemic. Two SriLankan flights, UL869 and UL865, carrying the vaccine arrived at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport at 5.30 a.m., yesterday (27).

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong officially handed over the vaccines to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat, yesterday (27).

In addition to these vaccines, a stock of syringes has also been donated. The vaccines were handed over to the Ministry of Health to be given to people over the age of 30 years in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. 72% of the vaccines used in the vaccination process in Sri Lanka is Sinopharm.

President Rajapaksa said that he highly appreciated the support provided by the Chinese Government for the control of COVID – 19 by donating 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines on March 31, 500,000 on May 26 and 1.6 million doses yesterday.

The President pointed out that by the end of August, all those over the age of 30 would be vaccinated and the tourism industry would be able to commence from September. “Therefore, the Chinese people are invited to visit Sri Lanka again”, the President said.

Ministers Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Douglas Devananda, Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundera, Senior Advisor to President Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Foreign Secretary Admiral Jayanath Colombage, and the Political Officer of the Chinese Embassy Luo Chong was also present on the occasion.

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Anupama Mangala Wickramaarachchi appointed District Secretary Ampara

Published

40 seconds ago

2026/03/10

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers, taking into consideration the resolution furnished by the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Council, and Local Government, have decided to appoint Anupama Mangala Wickramaarachchi, a special grade officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, who is serving as the Additional Commissioner General of Agrarian Development of the Department of the Agrarian Development at present, as the District Secretary , Ampara Administrative district with immediate effect.

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Committee on Economic Surveillance to be established

Published

6 mins ago

2026/03/10

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President to appoint the Committee on Economic Surveillance headed by the Minister of Labour, Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando as the Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning and comprised of the relevant heads of the Institutions and eminencies in the field to provide recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers on the essential policy precautions to be taken by constantly supervising the impact that can affect Sri Lankan economy due to the conflict in the Middle East.

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Cabinet nod to include the National Savings Bank for the Interest-Free Loan Scheme for Students

Published

32 mins ago

2026/03/10

Priyan

The Interest-Free Loan Scheme is implemented to follow government-recognized degree programs in non-governmental higher education institutions for students who have passed the General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) Examination and have not been eligible to enter a state university.

At present, the People’s Bank and the Bank of Ceylon are the banks that are granting loans under the aforementioned loan scheme. It has been planned to provide loan facilities for 7,000 students under stage 10 of the aforementioned loan scheme.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Prime Minister in her capacity as the Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education to include the National Savings Bank as a bank that grants loans for students under the aforementioned loan scheme, in addition to the People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon.