President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said he had a Zoom call with World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to discuss the current situation in the country.

"I believe he will make effort to fulfil Sri Lanka's need for 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca for the 2nd dose of vaccination," the President tweeted after the conversation.

"Globally, there is a need for 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca for the 2nd dose," the President also added.

"While commending our control of the pandemic during the first wave, the DG was hopeful that the current surge in affected persons would be soon brought under control. I registered my appreciation of the support the WHO has been providing at the regional and Colombo office level," the President said.