Baghdad, Jul 5 (IANS): The Iraqi Ministry of Health has launched a vaccination plan in government institutions, in an effort to accelerate the country's inoculation campaign to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Riyadh Abdul-Amir, head of the Ministry's Public Health Department, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Sunday that the the vaccination plan began at the in al-Karkh area of Baghdad.

"The Ministry has increased the number of vaccination teams in health centers and government institutions, especially in crowded colleges and institutes," Xinhua news agency quoted Abdul-Amir as saying to the INA.

He said health departments in the country's provinces are also working to increase vaccination centeres to accelerate the vaccination campaign, according to the INA.

Meanwhile, the Ministry reported 6,264 new Covid cases, raising the nationwide infection tally to 1,371,475.

The Ministry also confirmed 35 new deaths, bringing the fatality toll to 17,316, while the total recoveries climbed by 5,158 to 1,265,455.

A total of 11,890,105 tests have been carried out in Iraq since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020.

The Ministry also said 18,101 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 during the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of doses administered to 929,193.