ISLAMABAD: 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.