Twelve people in Andhra Pradesh have tested positive for COVID-19 between June 26 and July 16, and four of them have died, according to the state's Health Department. What's unusual isn't the number, it's the map. The cases are spread thin across four districts with no single outbreak zone, which is why officials have now sent five samples off to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to find out exactly which variant is doing the rounds.
It's a small story on its own, but it sits inside a much bigger one. India has logged 339 COVID cases since July 1, and Kerala alone makes up close to a third of that number. Andhra Pradesh's contribution is tiny by comparison, yet the scattered, almost random way the virus has shown up here is what's holding officials' attention right now.
