COLOMBO -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday instructed health authorities to start vaccinating members of the general public in the country's Western Province with the Oxford Astra Zeneca against the COVID-19 virus.

Officials said they had started vaccinating those who are at high risk of exposure of the virus, such as port workers, private hospital staff members and even garbage collectors who were based in Western Province.

All the members of Parliament, along with Parliamentary staff members, will be vaccinated from Tuesday with the Astra Zeneca vaccines, local media reported.

Sri Lanka started vaccinating 250,000 frontline workers in the health sector and the military on Jan 29. The island country has received 500,000 doses of Astra Zeneca from India.

Sri Lanka is likely to receive 1.8 million more doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine under the World Health Organization's COVAX facility which has pledged to provide four million doses free of charge to the Sri Lankan government.

The doses are expected to arrive in the country by the end of the month.