KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan on Tuesday launched a countrywide door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination drive as infections continue to surge due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.

Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who leads the country's anti-virus strategy told a press conference in the capital Islamabad that some 35 million vaccine doses will be administered during the two-week drive. He was accompanied by adviser on health Faisal Sultan.

Over 55,000 mobile teams will go and carryout vaccinations at home, Umar said, adding that around 80 million people out of the country's 210 million population, are fully vaccinated.

Pakistan is currently battling a fifth wave of COVID-19, with an average of 7,000 daily cases for a week.

The South Asian country reported its first coronavirus case in March 2020, and has since registered over 1.4 million infections, and more than 29,000 related deaths.

It logged its highest single-day infections— 8,183 — on Jan. 29 compared to the previous record of 6,825 cases on June 13, 2020.