Mongolian Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene on Monday urged the public to receive a booster or a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines as the country began to resume sports and cultural activities from 1 November.

According to new regulation, people who refused or unable to get booster jabs of Covid-19 vaccines, must to be tested with rapid testing costing MNT 20,000 every time they go to cinemas and participate in the cultural and sports events.

“Mongolia’s economy contracted for the second time in its history last year due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Therefore, as the Prime Minister, I urge our citizens to be responsible and take the booster dose in order not to impose a strict lockdown again,” said L.Oyun-Erdene.

So far, Mongolia has so far confirmed 362,772 cases, with 1,767 related deaths.

So far, over 70 percent of the population has received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines while some 500,000 people have taken the booster dose.

According to the country’s health ministry, at least 50 percent of the population need a booster jabs as delta variant spreads in Mongolia.