Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh recorded 611 new cases of COVID-19 and six more deaths, three each from Krishna and Kurnool districts, taking the death toll to 193 on Wednesday.
The new case numbers have fallen since the peak of 813 seen on June 28. The dip gives hope that Andhra Pradesh may have passed the peak of the pandemic. Since June 26, the sequence of new cases reads 605, 796, 813, 793, 704, 657.
The state now has 15,252 cases. Out of the 28,239 samples tested, 611 tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours. In addition, 39 patients from other states and seven from other countries also tested positive, taking the total number of new cases in the state to 657.
The health department bulletin reported that 9,18,429 samples have been tested and 8,071 people are under treatment in various hospitals while 6,988 have been discharged.
Anantpur recorded 118 new cases. There were 35 new cases in Chittoor, 80 in East Godavari, 77 in Guntur, 60 in Kadapa, 52 in Krishna, 90 in Kurnool, 33 in Nellore, 28 in Prakasam, 21 in Visakhapatnam, two in Vizianagaram and 15 in West Godavari.
In Kadapa district, 64 new infections were reported taking the overall tally to 1,163. Among new cases, 26 were from Proddutur, nine from Simhadripuram, five from Duvvuru, four each from Pulivendula, Chennur, and Kadapa, two from Thonduru and one each from Valluru, Rajupalem, Muddanur, Ramapuram, Galiveedu, Yerraguntla, Chakryapeta and Khajipeta. Two cases were reported from foreign returnees.
Meanwhile, the Sundupalli mandal parishad development officer (MPDO), the tahsildar and some staff in the revenue department also contracted the virus. Five days ago, the MPDO was down with Covid-19 and health officials had collected samples from 45 persons in contact with him on June 29. So far, tests of 29 are available and 17 of them had contracted the virus. Among the 17 were a tahsildar, two of his staff members, a panchayat secretary and two journalists. They were all shifted to a Covid hospital in Kadapa. Health authorities collected 120 samples on June 30 and the test results are awaited.
In Anantapur district, 118 new cases were reported taking the tally to 1,689. Given the rise in Coronavirus infections, the district police launched an awareness drive and accordingly, SP B Satya Yesu Babu flagged off a horse rally.
Kurnool district saw a spike in cases as 90 new cases were reported, pushing up the overall tally to 2,045. Three Covid-19 patients succumbed to the disease putting the death count at 68, the highest in any district in the state.
A doctor at a Covid hospital said that at least 5,000 samples were yet to be tested as testing was going on slowly due to lack of staff, data entry operators and other infrastructure. The doctor raised a red flag by saying that if the tests were not done within 24 hours, it would be difficult to trace the primary contacts of the infected persons. It could also lead to cross acculturation.
However, when contacted, KGGH superintendent denied any delay and said that they were processing the samples quickly. The district medical health officer Dr Rama Giddaiah said they were trying to increase testing to 5,000 samples from the present 3,000 per day.
In Visakhapatnam, 76 new cases were reported, the highest number of cases registered in a single day in the district. With this, the total tally rose to 976.
Srikakulam district reported 35 new cases taking its tally to 735. East Godavari district reported 89 new cases, pushing up the total to 1,485 from 24 mandals in the district.
In Nellore district, only 12 new cases were reported giving much relief to district officials as 69 new cases were reported on Tuesday. The new cases took the tally to 831 - 316 active cases and 493 patients discharged. The new cases were reported from Santhapeta, Haranathapuram, Manumasiddhi Nagar, Children’s Park area, Manumasiddhi Nagar, Moolapeta, AC Nagar and Nawabpeta.
In Chittoor district, 27 new cases were reported, raising the total number of cases to 1,600. Among the new cases, there were six each from Nagari, Tirupati urban and rural mandals, three from Madanapalli and two from Puttur. One Covid-19 patient died, taking the death toll to seven.
Prakasam district reported the highest single day surge of 94 new cases from Mundlamuru, Ongole, Chirala, Vetapalem, Singarayakonda, Markapuram, Parchuru, Kandukuru and Pamuru. More cases were reported from Ongole even though it has been under lockdown for more than a week.
