The toll due to coronavirus increased to 864 in south coastal Andhra Pradesh with 10 more persons, 7 in Prakasam district and 3 in Nellore district, succumbing to the viral disease in the last 24 hours.
With this, Prakasam caught up with Nellore in the toll as both the districts accounted for 432 deaths each, a health bulletin released by the State government said on Wednesday night.
The number of persons recovering from COVID was higher by over 500 when compared to the fresh admissions into hospitals, which still are overflowing with patients. As many as 1,519 persons recovered from the illness in the last 24 hours while the number of fresh admissions into hospitals was only 981 in the two districts. Over 79,500 of the more than 94,000 patients, who had tested positive for the disease, have recovered in the two districts.
Nellore district reported 479 new cases at a time when 623 patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing down the number of active cases to 3,969 .
In Prakasam district, recoveries stood at 869, while 502 new infections took the number of active cases to 10,482. As many as 663 of 1,303 persons undergoing treatment in hospitals were provided with oxygen/ventilator support.
Situation reviewed
Reviewing the health situation, Prakasam District Collector P. Bhaskar asked the health officials at the grassroots level to ensure that the patients taking treatment at home, over 8,500, followed the guidelines as any violation would lead to rapid increase in cases.
At least 100 persons in each of the public health centres should be tested for the disease and immediate steps should be taken to identify their primary and secondary contacts. It was unfortunate that some of the persons furnished fake addresses and mobile numbers and went incommunicado, he said, and wanted them to double up efforts to trace them with the help of police.