The State witnessed a sudden spike in COVID-19 infections for the fourth consecutive day with 840 fresh cases reported in the 24 hours ending Friday morning.
It was the highest single-day tally in the past 97 days since October 3. The single-day test positivity rate also crossed 2% for the first time in the past 103 days. In the first week of the year, 2,618 infections were reported against the 839 cases reported in the last week of 2021.
The rise in the number of infections has been the result of rise in number of samples tested during the past few days. As many as 37,849 samples were tested in the past day and their positivity rate was 2.22%. At 2,972, the active cases tally tripled in the past nine days.
The cumulative tally increased to 20,79,763 and the toll reached 14,501. The number of recoveries stand at 20,62,290. The lone death was reported in the Visakhapatnam district again.
Meanwhile, the rising incidence of infections in Visakhapatnam, Chittoor and Krishna has been the major contributor to the spike in cases in the State.
Over 40% of the fresh infections were reported in Visakhapatnam (183) and Chittoor (150) districts. They were followed by Krishna (88), East Godavari (70), Nellore (59), Guntur (66), Vizianagaram (49), West Godavari (38), Anantapur (33), Srikakulam (25), Kadapa (24), Kurnool (23) and Prakasam (22). The three districts also account for 51% of the State’s current active cases tally.
The district tallies are as follows: East Godavari (2,95,314), Chittoor (2,49,233), West Godavari (1,80,231), Guntur (1,79,577), Visakhapatnam (1,59,448), Anantapur (1,58,423), Nellore (1,47,304), Prakasam (1,38,861), Kurnool (1,24,293), Srikakulam (1,23,809), Krishna (1,21,067), Kadapa (1,16,062) and Vizianagaram (83,246).
