COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka's health authorities said on Wednesday that those who were yet to receive a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should receive China's Sinopharm vaccines as coronavirus infections were likely to rise in the island country this year.
Chief Epidemiologist of the Health Ministry's Epidemiology Unit Samitha Ginige told reporters that 6 million people out of those above the age of 18 in Sri Lanka have not received their booster dose as yet. (Sri Lanka-COVID-19-Chinese Vaccine)
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HANOI -- A new version of Omicron called XBB has been recorded in southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, local media reported on Wednesday.
The COVID-19 sub-variant was reported in December last year and accounted for a small share only, according to a COVID-19 research team of the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit. (Vietnam-XBB-COVID-19)
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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended higher on Wednesday, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 3.22 percent to close at 20,793.11 points.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 3.39 percent to end at 7,065.53 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index increased 4.58 percent to close at 4,427.17 points. (Hong Kong-Stocks)
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YANGON -- Myanmar's State Administration Council's (SAC) Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday granted amnesty to 7,012 prisoners to mark the country's 75th Anniversary of Independence Day.
According to the pardon orders, the prisoners were remitted sentences to mark Myanmar's Diamond Jubilee Independence Day, for the peace of the people and on humanitarian ground. (Myanmar-Amnesty-Prisoners-Independence Day)
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NEW DELHI -- India will launch the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) for which a budget of 197.44 billion Indian rupees (2.38 billion U.S. dollars) has been allocated, the government said on Wednesday.
The mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilization and export of green hydrogen. It encompasses the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Program (SIGHT), for which 174.90 billion Indian rupees (2.11 billion U.S. dollars) has been earmarked out of the total outlay. (India-Energy-Green Hydrogen)
