ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 7,678 COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, the highest single-day surge since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 59,343 samples were tested, out of which 7,678 turned out to be positive at the positivity rate of 12.93 per cent as compared to yesterday’s 11.55%. With the emergence of new cases, the countrywide number of cases has risen to 1,353,479. The deaths have also recorded an increase as 23 more patients of COVID-19 succumbed to the viral disease in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 29,065. The number of critical patients rose to 961. Pakistan has conducted 24,415,716 tests so far to diagnose the deadly virus and 1,266,479 people have regained their health including 814 in the past 24 hours. Two more educational institutions had been sealed following the detection of Covid-19 cases in the federal capital Islamabad. Overall 20 cases had been reported in a private university’s Islamabad campus and three Covid cases in a private school’s Soan Garden branch. In a letter to the deputy commissioner, the district health officer (DHO) Islamabad had issued directives to seal the two educational institutions.