ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The fourth batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday, according to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan.
The batch of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines will facilitate Pakistan's fight against the pandemic, the embassy told Xinhua.
On Tuesday, while attending the launching ceremony of the locally produced Chinese CanSino COVID-19 vaccine, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Chinese and Pakistani governments, armies and peoples helped each other by all means, which further strengthened the ironclad friendship between the two countries.
"We are proud that Pakistan is the first country to receive the vaccine gifted by the Chinese government and military," he said, adding that China will deepen its cooperation with Pakistan in fighting against COVID-19 and provide all possible support and assistance to Pakistan until the latter fully overcomes the pandemic.
Earlier in the year, the Chinese government has aided three batches of vaccines to Pakistan, and the Chinese military also donated two batches of vaccines to the Pakistani army.
In early February, Pakistan kicked off its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign after receiving a batch of China-donated vaccines. The Pakistani government has been pushing forward the vaccination drive to consolidate the momentum in controlling the third wave of COVID-19 in the country.
The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) of Pakistan said on Wednesday that the country has administered a total of 7,648,481 COVID-19 vaccine doses, and the vaccination for people aged 18-29 is expected to start from Thursday.
According to the data released by the NCOC on Wednesday, Pakistan recorded 1,843 new COVID-19 cases and 80 deaths on Tuesday, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 924,667 with 20,930 deaths. Enditem
