ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s coronavirus infection tally has crossed the half-million mark, health ministry data showed on Sunday.
The number of COVID-19 cases soared to 502,416 after 2,899 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours. At least 10,644 people in Pakistan have died of the virus.
Over 2,000 infections have been reported each day since November, as the South Asian country battles a second coronavirus wave.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s federal cabinet gave approval to the health ministry to purchase COVID-19 vaccine doses on an emergency basis. The country is going to purchase 1.2 million doses from China’s Sinopharm.
The first doses of the vaccine are expected to be available in Pakistan in the first quarter of the year.
Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in a series of tweets on Friday that the government is negotiating vaccine purchase deals with other companies as well, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and that in coming months more doses will be imported besides those from Sinopharm.
Despite the rise in infections figures, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been saying that the country cannot afford a complete lockdown. In attempts to keep the economy running, authorities have been imposing some restrictions or smart lockdowns in the parts of the country where the infection positivity rate is high.