EU donates 145,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Albania

TIRANA, May 5 (Xinhua) — EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said here on Wednesday that Albania will receive 145,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines donated by the European Union (EU) to fight against the pandemic.

The EU commissioner, who paid a short official visit to Albania as part of his tour in the Western Balkans for delivering COVID-19 vaccines, held a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at Tirana International Airport.

According to Rama, the first batch has arrived in Albania and as of August the country will have the rest of what has been allocated..

On Wednesday, the Technical Committee of Experts on the coronavirus situation in Albania decided to ease some COVID-19 restrictions as the epidemiological situation in the country is stable.

Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu declared that the number of new infections and fatalities has dropped and the country has a low incidence rate, 26.6 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.

The committee has decided to recommend the Education Ministry to reopen universities for consultation sessions as exam term approaches, Manastirliu added.

In addition, she confirmed that the 14-day quarantine for citizens entering the country from North Macedonia and Greece will be lifted.

However, the nighttime curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people will remain in force.

Mass vaccination of the population in Albania is ongoing. On Tuesday, Manastirliu declared that over 100,000 people have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccines and the government aims to vaccinate over one million people in May.