BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health approved on Monday a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for people over 18 years old, while reporting 5,756 new COVID-19 cases across the country.

The decision aims "to increase the immunity of recipients of vaccines and protect them from the mutations of the virus, including Omicron," said Sayf al-Badr, the spokesman of the ministry.

Meanwhile, the ministry reported 5,756 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide caseload to 2,159,993.

It also registered 13 new deaths, bringing the death toll from the virus to 24,300, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 2,756 to 2,081,178.

A total of 57,865 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of doses administered to 9,094,272, it said.

Iraq has been pushing forward its vaccination drive since the drug authority approved in January 2021 the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccine and other COVID-19 vaccines.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Chinese government has sent several batches of medical aid to Iraq and donated four shipments of Sinopharm vaccines to help fight the pandemic.