The Latest: Sri Lanka to buy 7 million Sputnik V doses

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka has decided to purchase 7 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

The government says it will pay $69.65 million for the shots.

Sri Lanka aims to inoculate 14 million people out of the population of 22 million. So far, over 850,000 people have received their shots using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Sri Lanka has received 1.2 million AstraZeneca doses out of at least 10 million it plans to purchase for $52.5 million. It has also approved China's Sinopharm shots.

Of the 1.2 million doses, Sri Lanka got 500,000 as a donation from India and bought another 500,000. The other 264,000 came through the COVAX facility.

Sri Lanka has reported 91,017 confirmed cases including 554 fatalities.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Bolsonaro under fire as Brazil hits 300,000 virus deaths

— AstraZeneca confirms strong vaccine protection after US rift

— Hong Kong vaccination drive struggles to gain public trust

— More than three months into the U.S. vaccination drive, many of the numbers paint an increasingly encouraging picture. Seventy percent of Americans 65 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and COVID-19 deaths have dipped below 1,000 a day on average for the first time since November.

— Mexican officials remain unsure about whether the supposed Russian coronavirus vaccines seized in Mexico last week are real or fake.

— The government of war-torn Syria says it will send emergency oxygen supplies to neighboring Lebanon, which is experiencing shortages amid a surge of coronavirus infections in both countries.

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