An aircraft of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying 0.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China has landed in Islamabad today (Thursday).

The PIA aircraft was being operated by the Government of Pakistan and the Ministry of Health in a bid to accelerate the delivery of vaccines to combat the coronavirus epidemic.

According to sources, the second plane of PIA with more doses will reach Pakistan at 12:30 pm while the third flight is expected to land at 12:00 midnight. 

The development came after Pakistan reported 151 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 815,711. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 17,680.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 5,480 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Punjab remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic both in terms of cases as well as deaths followed by Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.