The novel coronavirus has claimed 31 more lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 11,833.

In the past 24 hours, 44,173 people were tested for the virus across Pakistan. So far, 8,085,427 people have been tested for coronavirus since the outbreak of the virus last year. Out of these new cases, 1,508 came out positive, taking the national tally to 550,540.

Out of these, Sindh has reported 248,919, Punjab 159,311, Balochistan 18,840 and KP 67,803. Whereas, Islamabad has confirmed 41,655 cases, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 9,100 and Gilgit-Baltistan has reported 4,912 infections.

The country's coronavirus recoveries reached 505,818 on Thursday after 1,772 more people recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus vaccination drive began on Wednesday across the country in which the government aims to administer the vaccine to over one million healthcare workers in the first phase.

On Tuesday, Dr Rana Imran Sikander head of the coronavirus ward at PIMS became the first person to receive coronavirus vaccination in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan.