ISLAMABAD: A week after China donated 500,000 doses of a COVID-19 jab to Islamabad, its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delivered another vaccine set to Pakistan, the military said on Monday. 

“People’s Liberation Army, People’s Republic of China has donated COVID-19 vaccine for Pakistan Armed Forces,” a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan military’s media wing, said.

It added that it was the first time China had provided coronavirus vaccines to a foreign military.

“Keeping with the Pakistan Armed Forces’ traditional spirit of the nation comes first, always and every time, it has been decided to contribute complete vaccine donation by PLA to Pakistan military,” the statement said, before extending their “deepest gratitude” to the PLA for this “magnanimous donation during testing times.”

Pakistan’s official death toll from coronavirus infections crossed the 12,000 mark on Monday after 59 new fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours, data from the government’s COVID-19 portal showed.

It also registered 1,037 new infections in a single day, taking the national tally to 555,511 cases.

Pakistan launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive with the Sinopharm vaccine on Feb. 2, after receiving half a million jabs as a “gift” from China.

It aims to inoculate 70 million, out of 100 million eligible people, by the year-end.

In order to safeguard its population of 220 million, Pakistan has also approved the use of three coronavirus vaccines, namely China’s Sinopharm, Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik-V, while 582 emergency vaccination centers have been established for the initiative.