In a first, Pakistan administers more than 500,000 Covid-19 vaccines in a day

Karachi: Pakistan administered 525,000 doses during the last 24 hours, the highest number since it began its immunisation drive this year.

This was announced by Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar in a tweet on Tuesday.

The head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) also shared that 390,000 first-doses were also administered on July 12, which was also the highest number administered in Pakistan.

"The pace will increase further Inshallah," Umar tweeted.

On Tuesday, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan urged the citizens to get themselves inoculated against the novel Covid-19. He further said that there was an ample number of doses present in the country.

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Vaccination is the only way to protect the population from the spread of the coronavirus, the SAPM added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported more than 1,500 daily infections for the seventh consecutive day. During the last 24 hours, 43,790 tests were conducted across the country, out of which 1,590 came out positive. The country's positivity rate stands at 3.63%.

The death toll increased by 21 in the last 24 hours, taking the overall number to 22,618.

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Moreover, the total number of recoveries reached 914,605 after 732 people recovered from the infection.

According to a province-wise breakdown, the total cases reported in Sindh so far are 348,385, in Punjab 348,509, in Balochistan 28,321, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 139,593, in Islamabad Capital Territory 83,831, in Gilgit-Baltistan 6,972, and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir 21,256.