Sixteen more patients succumbed to coronavirus infection even as more than 3,100 patients recovered in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh in a day. The number of patients recovered outnumbered the single-day tally by over 900 in the last 24 hours ending on 9 a.m. on Thursday.
However, the deaths continued unabated in the region. Nine patients in Nellore district and seven more in Prakasam district died of the infection, taking the toll to 1,571 in the region, according to a health bulletin released by the State government on Thursday night. The pandemic has so far claimed 794 lives in Nellore and 777 in Prakasam.
Cumulative tally
The cumulative tally crossed the 2.19 lakh mark as 1,137 persons in Nellore district and another 1,069 persons in Prakasam district tested positive during the period.
However, the number of active cases dipped further to 36,723 in the region as 3,173 patients recovered during the period. The recovery rate improved to 82.54% in the region. The active cases in Prakasam and Nellore districts were put at 21,726 and 14,997 respectively.
Nellore District Collector K.V.N.Chakradhar Babu said notified government and private hospitals were geared up to treat black fungus cases. He asked the doctors to take steps to identify such cases early and provide the best healthcare services to the patients who developed eye infection.
Meanwhile, Prakasam Collector P. Bhaskar, after reviewing the health situation in Markapur town, said that COVID management committees would become fully functional from June 1 in all the villages. “The spread of virus can be checked only when the functionaries at the grassroots level rose to the occasion,” he said.
