Belarus will start vaccinating medical workers at risk from coronavirus, the country's Health Ministry said on Saturday.

"The healthcare facilities are receiving batches of Sputnik V vaccine to vaccinate medical workers of Belarus, those who are at risk, today," the Health Ministry said on its Telegram channel.

"In the first place, it is planned to vaccinate 2,285 medical workers of Minsk, 3,460 in the Brest region, 3,260 in the Vitebsk region, 4,365 in the Gomel region, 1,735 in the Grodno region, 1,610 in the Mogilev region, and 2,485 in the Minsk district," the ministry said.

"The practice of starting vaccination with medical workers is similar to such ones in the world," it said.

"The Health Ministry has distributed the vaccine to regions, depending on requests of healthcare facilities. All matters dealing with cold chain have been addressed," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, Belarus signed an initial contract for delivery of 170,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine in 2020.

"Several small batches of the Sputnik V vaccines were delivered in the past year and a batch of 20,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V on New Year's Eve," it said.

This batch underwent quality control, it said, adding that a testing laboratory registered at the national accreditation system of the Republic of Belarus examined it.

"The demands for the Sputnik V vaccine will be covered by domestic producers in the first quarter of 2021," the ministry said.

According to the Belarusian Health Ministry, as of January 16, 223,537 coronavirus cases and 1,573 deaths were recorded in the country.