COVID-19 cases continued to be on an upward climb in south-coastal Andhra Pradesh, with 557 people testing positive for the virus in Nellore district and 344 people testing positive in Prakasam district.
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Nellore district now has a total count of 9,899 cases while Prakasam district accounts for 6,427 cases.
With hospitals being pushed to the brink with the massive case load, the Nellore district administration announced a cash incentive for people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate blood plasma.
“We have started using plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients in the district. I appeal to those who have recovered from the virus to voluntarily come forward and donate blood plasma. An incentive of ₹5,000 will be given to each donor,” Nellore Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said.
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Visiting the COVID-19 hotspot of Venkatagiri, the Collector exhorted ward volunteers to actively identify those displaying coronavirus symptoms and make arrangements for their testing.
“Top priority will be given to symptomatic cases at designated hospitals. Those with mild symptoms will be treated at COVID-19 Care Centres. People need not fear as the virus has a mortality rate of only 1%, and the rest are making a full recovery,” he said.
In Nellore district, 473 patients were discharged from hospital. With this, the number of active cases came down to 5,722 in the district. Chirala had 30 fresh cases followed by Kandukur with 27 cases and Giddalur with 25 new cases. The remote village of Pamur reported 12 fresh cases. New cases also came from Dornala, Thimmasamduram, Inkollu, Peddaraveedu, Dodavaram, Pulipadu, Yaddanapudi, Jarugumalli, N.G. Padu, upugunturu, Kumarole, Mukthunitunapadu, Burepalli, Challagirigalla and Tarlupadu villages.
In Prakasam district, Ongole 88 new cases were reported from Ongole. Four municipal staff involved in implementing the cluster containment action plan and a woman police personnel from Disha police station who was on lockdown duty were among those who contracted the virus.
Collector P. Bhaskar said he anticipated a further spike in cases in August and asked health officials to improve facilities at COVID-19 Care Centres.
Toll rises
The combined death toll of both districts rose to 142 with eight more deaths — seven in Nellore and one in Prakasam district — being reported in the last 24 hours. As of Tuesday, 78 patients in Prakasam districts and 64 patients in Nellore districts have succumbed to the virus so far, a health bulletin released by the State Government said late on Tuesday night.