SINGAPORE: Singapore has become the first country in Asia to grant approval for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine and the city-state said it expects the first shipment to arrive around March.

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is the second to be authorised for pandemic use in Singapore, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is already being rolled out in the city-state.

As of Feb. 2, more than 175,000 individuals have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Singapore's health ministry said on Wednesday.