ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday inoculated the highest number of people in a single day since it launched its vaccination drive in February this year, a senior government minister announced on Wednesday, as a two-month high in new infections was reported in the last 24 hours.

Pakistan in May opened up its coronavirus vaccination campaign to everyone aged 19 or older as it scrambled to protect its 220 million people. Before that, the vaccine campaign had prioritized health care workers and the elderly.

“Yet another daily vaccination record set,” Asad Umar, the country’s planning minister, said on Twitter. “Yesterday 7 lakh 78 thousand [778,000] vaccinations were carried out.”

He added that Pakistan had also set a “new record” by administering 561,000 first doses on Tuesday, adding that the government now wanted to inoculate more than one million people in a day.

Last week, Pakistan said it would accelerate its COVID-19 vaccination campaign from August 1, as the country witnessed a sharp increase in local transmissions of a more aggressive Delta variant of the novel coronavirus.

Pakistan’s National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), which oversees its pandemic response, said on Twitter on Wednesday the country had administered over 27 million vaccine doses until now.

The country also reported 4,119 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single day increase in the last two months, while its positivity rate shot up to 6.32 percent.

The country recently crossed the grim milestone of one million COVID-19 cases since the emergence of the pandemic in February 2020.

Infection rate has steadily increased in Pakistan with the spread of the more contagious delta variant, especially amid the Eid Al-Adha holiday last week.

Earlier this week, a World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Pakistan said vaccination was the only way to fight the infectious disease.

“Despite national, regional and global efforts, the pandemic is nowhere near finished,” Dr. Palitha Mahipala warned. “WHO will continue to work with the Government of Pakistan and donors to implement activities to control transmission and advocate for equitable vaccine access and distribution.”