ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi on Monday asked Pakistanis to "get serious" and follow Covid guidelines as the country battles a fourth wave of the pandemic and recorded 3,752 new coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, the highest number reported in over two months.
The death toll due to the viral infection rose to 23,048 with 32 more deaths reported overnight, health officials said.
The total number of cases in the country now stands at 1,008,446, they said.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre, the 3,752 fresh cases is the highest number reported since May 21 when 4,007 infections were recorded, and an overnight increase from the 2,819 cases detected a day earlier.
The positivity rate in the country is also the highest since May 19 when it was recorded at 8.23 per cent, it said.
Terming the situation as "alarming", President Alvi urged people to follow the Covid guidelines.
"Alarming. 3752 new Covid patients yesterday. Get serious people of Pakistan. Cases have shot up post Eid. I was expecting & warning about it as I saw carelessness in streets, bazaars, weddings & mosques," he tweeted.
"Let's put our act together. Follow SOPs Wash hands, Mask & Social Distance," the president added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Monday received the second consignment of three million doses of the US-donated Moderna vaccine via the Covax facility, according to a press release issued by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef).
The first batch of 2.5 million Moderna vaccine doses were delivered by the US earlier this month.
Covax has delivered a total of 8 million doses of Covid vaccines to Pakistan since May 8.
These include 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca, 100,000 doses of Pfizer and 5.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines.