COVID-19 hospitals overflowed with patients in both Nellore and Prakasam districts and the onward march of coronavirus continued.
Four patients succumbed to the viral disease in Prakasam district, where 220 patients tested positive in the last 24 hours. With unrelenting rise in cases, the district authorities added nine new containment clusters to the existing 187 ones, with 33 of them being very active and 115 active.
In SPSR Nellore district, 27 journalists were among the 195 patients who contracted the infection. The hotspot of Nellore city accounted for a maximum of 125 new cases. The total number of confirmed cases went up to 2,376 and 2,398 in Prakasam and SPSR Nellore districts respectively.
Bed strength enhanced
As many as 58 patients, 50 in Prakasam district and eight in SPSR Nellore district, were cured of the disease and discharged from hospitals during the period.
In Prakasam district, the disease continued to spread far and wide with remote places accounting for 1,219 of the 2,376 cumulative cases. The bed strength was increased to 762 by putting 177 extra beds to treat the patients, including 60 admitted during the period.
Ongole bears the brunt
Ongole bore the brunt of the disease, registering 75 cases, taking the tally in the city to 491. With 27 new cases, the total number of cases went up to 407 in Markapur.
Other places with high number of cases included Chirala and Kandukur with 19 new cases, pushing up the tally to 224 and 162 respectively. Fresh cases also came from Kanigiri(21), Lingasamudram(10), Giddalur(8), Singarayakonda(6), Pamur(4), Podili(4) and Addanki(2). Seven of the newly-infected persons had returned from neighbouring Telangana and one each from Karnataka and Punjab.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists(APUWJ) State president I.V.Subba Rao wanted the State government to provide an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh to scribes, treating them as corona warriors.
It should provide an immediate assistance of ₹20,000 to each of the more than 150 journalists who had tested positive for the disease in the State, he said and also pressed for revival of the Working Journalists Health Insurance Scheme and accidental insurance policy.
