The Iraqi Ministry of Health on Sunday launched a vaccination plan in government institutions, in an effort to accelerate the vaccination campaign to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Riyadh Abdul-Amir, head of the ministry's Public Health Department, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the ministry began the vaccination plan in al-Karkh area of Baghdad.
"The ministry has increased the number of vaccination teams in health centres and government institutions, especially in crowded colleges and institutes," Abdul-Amir said.
He said health departments in the country's provinces are also working to increase vaccination centers to accelerate the vaccination campaign, according to INA.
Meanwhile, the ministry reported 6,264 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, raising the nationwide case load to 1,371,475.
The ministry also confirmed 35 new deaths, bringing the death toll from the virus to 17,316, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 5,158 to 1,265,455.
A total of 11,890,105 tests have been carried out in Iraq since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 39,128 done during the day, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement also said 18,101 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 during the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of doses administered to 929,193.
Iraq has been pushing forward its vaccination drive since the drug authority approved in January the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccine and other Covid-19 vaccines.
Since the early stage of the pandemic in 2020, the Chinese government has sent medical aid to Iraq and donated two shipments of Sinopharm vaccines to the country. Enditem