Covid-19 cases cross 2 million mark in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati: Coronavirus cases crossed the two million mark in Andhra Pradesh, touching 20,00,038 on Friday, even as the state appears to be still riding the second wave with at least half a dozen districts reporting more than 100 cases each daily.

The first COVID-19 case in the state was registered on March 12, 2020 when a person who returned from Italy tested positive for the dreaded virus in SPS Nellore district.

It took over 13 months, from March 12, 2020 to April 23, 2021, for AP to record one million Covid-19 cases, but the second million came in a span of only four months on the back of an intense ‘second wave'.

May 2021 was the worst month when the state saw the fastest spike of 1,09,822 cases in just five days. In all, a staggering 5,71,973 coronavirus cases were registered in the state during May alone, taking the cumulative to 17 lakh.

The decline, however, started in June and the infection spread slowed considerably through July.

The last lakh cases came in 47 days, the longest duration during the second wave.

The state has so far completed 2,59,72,539 sample tests that turned out an overall positivity rate of 7.6 per cent.

AP stands fifth in the country, behind topper Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, in aggregating more than 20 lakh COVID-19 infections.

So far, 19,70,864 patients in the state have recovered from the infection and another 13,702 succumbed, according to the Health Department data.

The overall recovery rate is 98.5 per cent and mortality rate 0.68 per cent.

The state now has 15,472 active COVID-19 cases.

Barring Vizianagaram, 12 other districts registered coronavirus cases in six digits, with East Godavari topping the list with 2.83 lakh, followed by Chittoor 2.35 lakh positives.

Vizianagaram, which was the last district in the state to report its first case in May 2020, has so far logged 81,992 cases.

Meanwhile, the bulletin said 1,435 fresh cases and 1,695 recoveries were reported in 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday.

The state reported only six deaths in a day, the lowest in more than six months.

Chittoor logged 199, SPS Nellore 190, East Godavari 178, Krishna 175, West Godavari 154, Guntur 133 and Prakasam 109 new cases. The remaining six districts added less than 100 new cases each.

Chittoor, Krishna and Prakasam districts reported two Covid-19 deaths each in a day. No fatalities were reported from the remaining 10 districts.