ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is going to acquire another 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from China by the end of March, Planning Minister Asad Umar told the local media on Friday.

Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity rate neared 10% on Saturday, government data showed, as it reported 3,876 new cases in the last 24 hours, a record this year. At least 623,135 COVID-19 cases and 13,799 related deaths have been reported in Pakistan since the beginning of the outbreak.

The country of 220 million people began its COVID-19 vaccination program last month, targeting frontline health workers, with 500,000 doses of Sinopharm’s vaccine donated by China. In March, it launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive for the general public, starting with older people. A second batch of 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday.

According to official data, the government has vaccinated more than 450,000 people so far across the country.

“First consignment would reach by March 25 and the second one on 30th. The government would acquire more next month,” Umar told Geo News, adding that the vaccines will come from two different Chinese companies.

China’s Sinopharm and CansinoBio, Russia’s Sputnik-V and the British AstraZeneca vaccines are approved for emergency use in Pakistan, whose government is relying so far on vaccine donations.

A private pharmaceutical company, AGP Limited, earlier this week imported the first shipment of 50,000 doses of Sputnik-V to Pakistan.

The government is expected to announce a price cap for Sputnik V shots in the coming days, after the federal cabinet approves the price recommended by the country’s drug regulator, Dr. Rana Muhammad Safdar, director-general health at the Ministry of National Health Services and Regulations, told Arab News on Friday.

In February, Pakistan said it would allow private companies to import coronavirus vaccines and agreed to exempt such imports from price caps, but that decision was being reversed.

Pakistan is also expected to receive its first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine this month through the COVAX vaccine sharing initiative for poorer nations.