352,991 new cases take India's COVID-19 tally to over 17 mln

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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NEW DELHI -- India's COVID-19 tally surpassed 17 million on Monday with as many as 352,991 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

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GABORONE -- The Botswana government received a batch of COVID-19 vaccine provided by China's Sinovac on Sunday.

Wang Xuefeng, Chinese ambassador to Botswana, said at the handover ceremony that the donation is a gift to Botswana from the Chinese government, a symbol of the two countries' time-tested friendship, and a new milestone in China and Botswana's joint fight against COVID-19.

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BEIJING -- The Chinese mainland on Sunday reported 11 new COVID-19 cases, all of which were imported, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Monday.

Of them, three were reported in Yunnan, two each in Shanghai and Sichuan, and one each in Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and Shaanxi.

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MANILA -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday said it approved 18.9 million U.S. dollars in grants to help four developing member countries in the Pacific in rolling out safe and effective vaccines against the COVID-19.

The Manila-based bank said the grants to Samoa (8 million U.S. dollars), Tonga (5.5 million U.S. dollars), Tuvalu (1.5 million U.S. dollars), and Vanuatu (3.9 million U.S. dollars) will support their COVID-19 vaccination programs for a combined population of almost 600,000 people.