Amaravati: State sees 5-month high of 2,765 new cases

Amaravati: A five-month high of 2,765 fresh cases of coronavirus were registered in the state, while 1,245 patients recovered and 11 more succumbed in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday. Consequently, the active caseload climbed to 16,422 after five months.

The latest bulletin showed the infection count at 9,18,597, total recoveries at 8,94,896 recoveries and toll at 7,279.

Chittoor reported 496 and Guntur 490 new cases of the pandemic in a day. Krishna added 341, Visakhapatnam 335, Nellore 292, Kadapa 171, Anantapur 167, Prakasam 161 and Srikakulam 100 afresh.

Kurnool reported 79, East Godavari 78 and Vizianagaram 49 while West Godavari added just six new cases in a day, the bulletin said. Anantapur, Chittoor, Nellore and Visakhapatnam districts reported two fresh Covid-19 fatalities each while Guntur, Krishna and Prakasam accounted for one each. Meanwhile, government statistics showed the infection positivity rate climbing steeply since March after falling to a significant low in the previous three months.

The positivity rate is now over 4.77 per cent, up from 1.07 per cent in March. It was as low as 0.25 per cent in February, 0.41 in January and 0.78 in December when the pandemic curve seemed to have flattened.

Of the 16,000-plus active Covid-19 cases, more than 10,000 infected people were in home isolation while over 2,000 were in various hospitals and another 40-odd in Covid care centres. Of all, about 800 patients were on ventilator and oxygen support in hospitals across the state, government data said.