Pakistan receives 1.55 million doses of China-made COVID vaccine

The National Command and Control Centre, Pakistan (NCOC) said the SinoVac was purchased by Pakistan and consignments were delivered in a plane of the Pakistan International Airlines to Islamabad and Karachi.

"China, as a time-tested friend of Pakistan, has taken special measures to ensure the uninterrupted supply of vaccine to Pakistan," the NCOC said.

The NCOC said another consignment of 2 million to 3 million doses would be delivered from China in the coming week.

Minister for Planning and NCOC chief, Asad Umar, tweeted that more than 2.3 million doses were administered in the last week at a rate of 332,877 shots per day.

"This is the highest so far in any week," he said, adding that the number would go up and next week will be a new record. "Well done Pakistan," he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 1,050 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the confirmed cases to 948,268, while 37 more people died related to the virus in this period, pushing the COVID-19 toll to 21,977, according to the Ministry of National Health Services.

The positivity rate was 2.56 per cent and the number of active coronavirus patients was 33,972.