AP reports highest single day spike in Covid cases

Amaravati: Eighty new cases, three more deaths and 21 fresh discharges took the overall COVID-19 tally in Andhra Pradesh to 893, 27 and 141 respectively in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday, the government said.

This is thus far the largest spurt in the number of coronavirus cases in the state in a single day.

Two patients in Guntur district had a relapse at the end of their 14-day treatment period, testing positive for coronavirus afresh on Thursday, a senior official of the Health Department said.

This was reported when the mandatory tests were conducted on the two prior to their scheduled discharge.

They would now continue to remain in hospital for further treatment, the official added.

The contagion spread by Tablighi Jamaat attendees continued to push coronavirus cases further in the two hotbeds of Kurnool and Guntur as the two districts now have a whopping 234 and 195 cases respectively.

As many as 31 new cases were added in Kurnool and 18 in Guntur on Thursday, according to the latest COVID-19 bulletin.

The community transmission that began in the temple town of Srikalahasthi in Chittoor district spread further as 14 more cases were registered in the last 24 hours.

Chittoor now has 73 cases, the fourth highest in the state behind the 88 in Krishna district.

Two coronavirus deaths were reported in Kurnool district and one in Krishna, taking the overall toll in the state so far to 27.

In Krishna district, nine patients got cured and discharged from hospital, seven in Chittoor and five in Kadapa in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said.

It said a record 6,522 samples were tested during the period, of which 6,442 turned negative.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 tests in the state stood at 48,034 and 47,141 of them were negative till date, the bulletin added.