ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 has claimed 38 more lives in Pakistan over the past 24 hours, pushing the nationwide death toll to 22,111.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 1,097 new cases of the virus emerged during the said period. The overall number of the confirmed cases currently stands at 951,865

As many as 46,124 samples were tested during this period, taking the country’s overall tests to 14,279,084.

It said the Covid-19 infection rate was recorded at 2.37.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease since the first case of the pandemic was reported in the country climbed to 896,821 after 1,131 more people recuperated in the last 24 hours.

As of June 24, as many as 7,267,000 people have been partially vaccinated against the deadly infection while 3,566,547 fully vaccinated, the NCOC said.

A total of 13,484,364 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across Pakistan thus far.

Meanwhile, the second batch of Pakvac vaccine has been produced and will be available for use in the next couple of days after approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), said sources on Wednesday.

According to sources privy to the matter, the Pakistani experts solely manufactured the second batch of the vaccine which is based on the formula of single-dose Chinese vaccine-Cansino. “Previously, the first batch was manufactured with the help of the Chinese experts,” they said.

The second batch of the vaccine, according to sources, would be handed over to the government in phases after approval from the DRAP and added that the regulatory authority would issue an NCLB Lot release certificate besides it being examined by the National Control Laboratory for Biologicals.