ULAN BATOR, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will spend 226 billion Mongolian Tugriks (about 79.3 million U.S. dollars) to vaccinate its people against COVID-19, the country's Health Ministry said Saturday.

"The Mongolian government has approved a total of 226 billion Mongolian Tugriks for all activities related to COVID-19 vaccination, including the purchase, transportation, storage and inoculation," said Sereejav Enkhbold, the country's health minister.

Mongolia is planning to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million people, or all adults in the country, against the coronavirus within 2021, with 20 percent of them to be vaccinated under COVAX, a global initiative to ensure quick and equal access to vaccines against the virus, according to the minister.

The Asian country is expected to launch a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign early next week.

So far, the country has recorded 2,586 COVID-19 cases, with six deaths.

More than 2,100 of the confirmed cases were locally transmitted, and over 1,700 of them were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's total population.