Four more patients, including a remand prisoner, tested positive for coronavirus in Prakasam district in the last 24 hours.
While a 25-year-old man from Tripurantakam had returned from Chennai, the second person, a 32-year-old man, has returned from Mumbai. A six-year-old boy, a primary contact of a woman from Innamanamelur village who has a travel history to Chennai, was also infected, COVID-19 nodal officer John Richards said.
Alarmed over a prisoner testing positive, health staff tested all the 140 prisoners and 56 staff members in the sub-jail for the disease on Saturday.
Over 30 primary contacts of the infected prisoner aged 22 years were isolated within the sub-jail.
The prisoner hailing from Vijayawada was arrested in connection with a theft case here on April 12 by the Ongole Taluka police.
Deputy Inspector General(Prisons) M.Vara Prasad who rushed to oversee the health situation in the sub-jail, said all precautionary measures were being taken to avert the spread of the disease among the prisoners.
So far, thirteen persons with Chennai connection had got infected in the district. Three others had returned from Maharashtra. The total number of confirmed cases in the district rose to 79 with the addition of four fresh cases. Test reports of 585 persons were found negative for the disease on Saturday.
Meanwhile, no case was reported in Nellore on Saturday. The number of active cases stood at 55 after discharge of one person. So far, 181 persons have been discharged on recovery, while four persons had succumbed to the viral disease.
