Amaravati, March 26: The upward spiral of coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh continued, with the gross inching towards the nine lakh mark, as 984 positives were added afresh on Friday. This was the highest increase in cases in a day after four months, which took the overall to 8,96,863 from a total of 1.49 crore tests, at an overall rate of 6.01 per cent.

A health department bulletin said 306 COVID-19 patients got cured and two succumbed in 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday. The active caseload grew to 4,145 after a total of 8,85,515 recoveries and 7,203 deaths so far. COVID-19 Vaccination Drive in Andhra Pradesh: Police Personnel in Few Districts Get Inoculated for Coronavirus.

Chittoor, Guntur, Krishna and Visakhapatnam districts are now the major hotspots in the state where the contagion has been increasing at a virulent pace. Guntur reported 176, by far the highest count in a day in a district in more than four months, followed by Visakhapatnam 170, Chittoor 163 and Krishna 110 new cases in a day.

SPS Nellore added 89, Kurnool 54, East Godavari 49, Anantapuramu 46, Srikakulam 42, Kadapa 31 and Prakasam 27 new cases while only Vizianagaram (15) and West Godavari (12) reported less than 20 cases each.

In East Godavari district, 21 members of a joint family of a village near Kakinada were infected with coronavirus after they attended a religious event in another household.

Health authorities are now screening other villages for the infection even as sanitation measures have been stepped up. Chittoor and Visakhapatnam reported one fresh COVID-19 fatality each.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)