At 7,000, Andhra records big spike in daily Covid count

Amaravati, Jan 18:  In a big spike in Covid-19 cases, Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday reported nearly 7,000 cases and four deaths.

The daily count rose sharply from 4,108 on Monday to 6,996 on Tuesday, an increase of over 70 per cent in the last 24 hours.

The positivity rate also surged to 18.36 per cent.

According to the state command control room, 38,055 samples were tested during the last 24 hours ending 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The tally may surge higher if the health authorities resume testing more samples.

The number of daily Covid tests has come down during the last few days due to the Sankranti festival and week-end.

Health authorities had already warned that Covid cases may increase sharply after Sankranti as the festival season sees huge movement of people.

A large number of people from Andhra Pradesh, who are living in neighbouring Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, visit their native places for Sankranti festivities

The night curfew will come into force in the state from Tuesday. Authorities announced that the night curfew will be in force from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Meanwhile, the active cases in the state surged to 36,108 up from 30,182 on Monday.

Visakhapatnam district accounted for two deaths while Chittoor and Nellore districts reported one death each. The cumulative death toll mounted to 14,514

Chittoor district reported the highest number of cases at 1,534, followed by Visakhapatnam (1263) and Guntur (758). Srikakulam logged 573 cases, Anaantapur 462, Prakasam 424 and Vizianagaram 412.

The 24-hour period also saw 1,066 people recovering from the virus, taking the total recoveries to 20,66,762.