VISAKHAPATNAM/VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh reported a new daily high in Covid-19 cases as the state accumulated 13,212 infections on Friday, taking the cumulative caseload to 21,53,268. This is the highest one-day case total in about seven months. The daily positivity rate further increased to 29.7% as the new cases were detected in tests conducted on 44,516 people.
This is the highest ever daily positivity rate since the onset of the pandemic in Andhra Pradesh in March 2020. Several urban and rural areas are recording a 50% case positivity rate for the last few days.
Visakhapatnam (2,244 new cases) reported over 2,000 daily cases for the second consecutive day on Friday, followed by Chittoor (1,585), Anantapur (1,235), Srikakulam (1,230), Guntur (1,054) and Nellore (1,051).
The toll increased to 14,532 as five more people succumbed to the pandemic.
The active caseload of the state further increased to 64,136. Visakhapatnam has 13,020 active cases, followed by Chittoor (10,446) and Guntur (5,284)
The Krishna district administration and health wing officials conducted surprise inspections at seven Covid-19 testing private laboratories in Vijayawada. A team led by district medical and health officer (DM&HO) Dr Suhasini inspected the records and found three laboratories charging a fee in excess of the amount prescribed by the government.
“Three laboratories collected 80,000 excess from 471 people who gave their samples for Covid-19 and we have directed the labs to refund the amount to them,” the DM&HO said. “We are considering this as the first mistake. We will cancel the licence if this continues,” Dr Suhasini told TOI.
(with inputs from Venu Lanka)
