QUITO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador recorded 1,641 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, for a total of 269,860 cases, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

　　The figure represents an exponential increase in the number of daily infections registered since lockdown measures were relaxed in January.

　　Meanwhile, the country's national vaccination drive against COVID-19, which began on Jan. 21, is progressing with the inoculation of healthcare workers and seniors living in care homes.

　　The campaign was launched after the arrival of a first shipment of 8,190 doses of a vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

　　On Wednesday, the country received a second shipment of 16,380 doses of the same vaccine, the ministry said, as part of a larger batch of 86,000 doses Pfizer has committed to sending the Andean country.

　　The second shipment enables authorities to apply 100 percent of the first and second doses to the initial target group, namely 6,228 healthcare workers at 99 public and private hospitals, as well as seniors at 18 public and private care homes and their staff.