Colombo, Feb 24 (IANS): Sri Lanka's health authorities have urged citizens to get their Covid vaccines as 9,00,000 locals were yet to receive their doses due to an anti-vaccination movement spreading across the country, local media reported on Thursday.

The Health Ministry's Epidemiology Unit Director, Samitha Ginige, was quoted by the Daily Mirror, as saying that 17.6 million people above 12 years of age were eligible to get the vaccines in Sri Lanka, but the total number administered with the first dose stood at 16.7 million as of Wednesday.

He said those who were hesitant to take the vaccines were misguided and were believing myths and misconceptions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sri Lanka is rolling out the booster shots to all those aged above 20, however, Ginige said over 1.1 million people aged above 60 had not taken the booster despite constant reminder, which was worrying as they were more vulnerable to succumb to Covid.

Sri Lanka has, in recent weeks, recorded a rise in Covid infections due to a spread of the Omicron variant with over 1,000 new infections being reported daily.

Health authorities have urged the public to seek immediate medical treatment if they develop any of the Covid symptoms and get vaccinated without further delay.

To date, Sri Lanka has recorded 6,40,578 Covid infections since March 2020 and 16,086 deaths.