Over 136,000 persons have received the second doses of the vaccination against Covid-19, under the government's "Covid-19 Dhifaau" programme so far.

According to the latest statistics publicized by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), a total of 2,676 individuals were vaccinated against the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic nationwide on Monday.

Monday's vaccinations included 468 first doses and 2,208 second doses.

Of this, 142 persons received first doses and 258 persons were administered their second vaccination shots from four mobile teams across 11 vaccination centers across the Greater Malé Region. Further, 323 atoll residents received first doses and 1,950 residents across outlying atolls received second vaccine doses from 240 vaccination centers on Monday as well.

A total of 136,205 individuals have been administered their second shots nationwide by the end of Monday and a total of 301,707 have received first doses nationwide thus far.

Vaccination centers are to be closed across the nation on Fridays during the ongoing fasting month of Ramadan. The public health authority has urged residents to arrive early for vaccination as queues are observed to be particularly long during Ramadan. Authorities recently halted administering the Covishield vaccinations as thus, are using the Sinopharm vaccines currently.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” inoculation drive on February 1 with the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccinations produced by India’s Serum Institute. After temporarily discontinuing the first round of vaccinations on March 15, the public health authorities resumed administering the first doses of vaccination on March 22 with the Sinopharm vaccination. HPA began administering the second Covishield vaccination doses on April 3 and the second doses of Sinopharm are also being administered currently for those who have completed four weeks since receiving the first jab.

Maldives is using the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccination, Sinopharm as well as Pfizer vaccines in its inoculation programme.

Healthcare authorities halted administering the India-sourced Covishield vaccinations at a time there have been reports that the Maldives is low on Covishield supply. However, authorities have since revealed that they expect to receive a shipment of the Covishield vaccination within a fortnight, and that efforts are currently underway to procure supplies.