BANGKOK, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Thailand accelerated vaccine rollout as it began a mass vaccination program Monday amid efforts to contain its worst COVID-19 outbreak so far and ensure the country's wider reopening to vaccinated foreign visitors.
On Monday, the first day of the program, the country administered 416,847 doses of vaccines, compared with a daily average of fewer than 50,000 doses during the past three months, according to data from the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) released on Tuesday.
The country has administered more than 4.63 million doses of vaccines in total, and aims to vaccinate about 70 percent of its nearly 70 million population by the end of this year.
The tourism-reliant country planned to reopen the popular resort island Phuket to fully vaccinated foreign visitors from July 1, and considered the reopening of several other regions and provinces later this year.
On Tuesday, Thailand reported 2,662 new cases, bringing the total caseload to 182,548, jumping more than sixfold from the beginning of April when the third wave of outbreak started to spread from the capital Bangkok, according to the CCSA.
The country also reported 28 fatalities, taking the death toll to 1,297. Enditem