LISBON, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's Health Minister Marta Temido said on Monday that her country has "fully complied" with its COVID-19 vaccination plan.

"Up to 7 p.m. on Jan. 24, around 255,700 vaccine inoculations had been carried out," she said after meeting with the vaccination task force and Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

Temido said that "Portugal received 99,450 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday. To date, 411,600 doses of the Pzifer and the Moderna vaccines have been distributed" in the country.

She said that, as planned, vaccination will be completed by the end of this week in nursing homes and long-term care units.

She estimated that "by the end of this month, 100,000 health professionals will be vaccinated."

Next on the vaccination schedule are the country's firefighters, security forces and people over 50 with underlying health issues, to be followed by members of the so-called "sovereign bodies" (government and court officials).

On Monday, Portugal reported 252 deaths related to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative death toll to 10,721.

Meanwhile, 6,923 new coronavirus cases have been reported, taking the national tally to 643,113, with 6,420 people hospitalized, of whom 767 are in intensive care units.

Prime Minister Costa said that the country will have "70 percent of the adult population properly immunized" by the end of this summer.

Meanwhile, 237 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 64 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Jan. 22. Enditem

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