Pakistan on Wednesday began vaccinating elderly people aged 60 years and above against the novel coronavirus, according to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan.

The group of elderly people have been planned to receive the vaccine in the second phase of a nationwide vaccination drive, Sultan told Xinhua news agency.

Pakistan started its COVID-19 vaccination drive in February after the arrival of Chinese vaccine doses, with the frontline health workers given the priority for inoculation.

Last week, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan further approved the emergency use of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for people over 60 years of age.

Pakistan began inoculating the elderly at a time when daily new COVID-19 cases have been on the rise since it eased coronavirus restrictions late last month.

Pakistan reported 1,786 new confirmed cases and 43 more fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing its total tally to 595,239 with 13,324 deaths, according to data released by the Health Ministry on Wednesday.

(IANS)