The coronavirus continued to haunt in the south coastal Andhra Pradesh as nine more people died and more than 2,200 persons got infected during the last 24 hours.
The toll rose to 317 in Nellore district with six more patients succumbing to the virus during the period, while the same in Prakasam district went up to 298, with three new deaths, said a health bulletin released by the government on Thursday night.
With 1,282 new positive cases, the cumulative cases rose to 35,829 in Nellore district. In Prakasam, 926 more people were tested positive, taking the tally to 25,444.
The health staff were worried as the number of fresh admissions outnumbered those got cured during the period by over 1,500 patients. The health infrastructure appears to be insufficient to meet the challenge at hand as the two districts have been reported about 2,000 cases daily this week. Only 674 patients, including 54 in Prakasam, were discharged on recovery during the period.
Taking stock of the situation, Prakasam Collector P. Bhaskar said oxygen facility has been provided to 1,000 beds to cope with increasing need for respiratory healthcare by the COVID-19 patients. As the number of active cases increased to more than 11,500, health officials treated about 9,000 asymptomatic patients at their homes. More than 500 patients in the need of critical healthcare services were put on ventilator support.
Oxygen requirement
Oxygen requirement for the increasing number of symptomatic patients was projected by doctors at about 24 tonnes per day. The district administration is now planning to approach Visakahapatnam for oxygen supply after the authorities in Chennai turned down their request in view of the increase in demand by the patients there, sources said.
Meanwhile, Nellore Collector K.V.N. Chakardhar Babu felicitated plasma donor M. Subashini.
