Coronavirus cases hit 9-lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh

Coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh: The Andhra Pradesh state on Tuesday crossed the nine lakh mark in total Covid-19 cases as 993 more were added in a day. The cumulative coronavirus positives in the state touched 9,00,805 after 1.50 crore tests at an overall rate of 5.98 per cent.

It took 158 days for the state to reach nine lakh total cases after it touched the eight-lakh mark on October 23 last year, the longest period since the outbreak of the pandemic.

A health department bulletin said 480 Covid-19 patients had recovered and three more succumbed in 24 hours ending 9 am on Tuesday.

The total recoveries have risen to 8,86,978 and toll to 7,213, the bulletin said, adding 6,614 cases remained active.

Guntur topped the chart, registering 198 fresh cases, followed by Chittoor 179, Krishna 176 and Visakhapatnam 169 in 24 hours.

The remaining nine districts reported less than 50 new cases each, with three of them adding less than 20 each. Guntur, Krishna and Visakhapatnam also reported one fresh Covid-19 fatality each in a day.

It took 137 days for Andhra Pradesh to log the first one lakh coronavirus cases from March 12, 2020 when the first case was reported.

The second and the third lakh came in a span of 11 days each and the next three lakh cases came in intervals of 10 days each. The state went from six to seven lakh cases in 14 days and from seven to eight in the next 22 days. But the pace of the contagions spread slowed considerably after November last and at one stage in February the state appeared to be heading towards a nil balance sheet with the overall active caseload dipping to a low of about 300. On February 15, the state added only 30 fresh cases, the lowest in a day in more than 10 months, but in the last fortnight, the virulence began once again as 8,797 new infections were reported.