Moroccan pharmaceutical firm Sothema will soon start production of 5 million doses a month of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in the North African country, its state news agency MAP reported on Monday.

The announcement was made at a ceremony chaired by King Mohammed VI, during which the Moroccan government, Sinopharm and Sothema signed deals to produce the vaccine in Morocco.

At the same event, the Moroccan government also signed a deal with Sweden's Recipharm to set up a plant in Morocco to produce other key vaccines. 

Morocco, with a population of about 36 million, started to roll out a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in January. It has inoculated more people against the virus than other African countries. About 19.23 million doses of the Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines were administered in the country as of July 5.

It has received 20.4 million doses of vaccines so far and plans to inoculate everyone over the age of 17. 

The country has registered 534,550 COVID-19 infections and 9,319 deaths due to the virus as of July 5.