Islamabad, May 23 (IANS): Pakistan has started the vaccination against Covid-19 for people from 30 to 39 years of age, an official said.

Asad Umar, chief of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), told the media that the vaccination for the 30-39 age group started on Saturday and would continue for an indefinite period, while urging the Pakistani people to receive the jab, reports Xinhua news agency.

Pakistan has already been vaccinating people aged 40 and above across the country.

According to the NCOC, the country has administered 4,956,853 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine till date, with 1,193,441 people fully inoculated.

The NCOC said in a statement on Saturday that 4,007 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Pakistan during the last 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 897,468.

The country's eastern Punjab province was the worst-hit region with 333,057 confirmed cases reported in total, followed by Sindh with 306,707 infections, said the NCOC.

An additional 88 people died from the pandemic in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, raising the Covid death toll to 20,177, said the statement.

It added that the number of recoveries stood at 813,855.