New batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Thailand

BANGKOK, July 4 (Xinhua) -- A new batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the Thai capital of Bangkok on Sunday, giving support to the Southeast Asian country's battle against its worst wave of outbreak of the pandemic so far.

The Chinese Embassy to Thailand confirmed the new arrival of the vaccines in a Facebook post, saying that the shipment was the 14th batch of vaccines that China has provided for Thailand to help fight the virus.

The vaccines came as Thailand is struggling to contain a months-long surge in infections. The country on Sunday reported 5,916 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 283,067 from less than 30,000 in early April.

The cumulative deaths climbed to 2,226, with 44 more fatalities reported on Sunday, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, the country's COVID-19 task force.

Thailand aims to vaccinate about 70 percent of its people by the end of the year. As of Saturday, it had administered more than 10.67 million doses of vaccines since the national inoculation program began in February.