In an overnight spike, Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) reported 17 new COVID-19 positive cases from six districts on Tuesday taking the overall tally to 40. A majority of them were connected to the religious meeting held in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, according to the latest bulletin by the Health Department.
One of the patients is a 10-year-old boy, the youngest to contract the virus in the State so far. He is from Lepakshi in Anantapur, and a close contact of Mecca returnee who is being treated in Karnataka.
Along with the boy, a 34-year-old female in Lepakshi also contracted the virus from a patient who returned from Mecca and is being treated in Karnataka.
The Nizamuddin connection
In all 14 patients are connected to the Nizamuddin, New Delhi meeting While 12 of them attended it, two others contracted the virus from those who attended the meeting.
While eight of them are from Prakasam district, five are from Guntur district, and one from Krishna district.
Guntur contacts
Two persons persons from Guntur who have tested COVID-19 positive and who attended the New Delhi meeting are also contacts of the first Guntur man who tested positive a few days ago and returned from a meeting in a mosque in Nizamuddin, New Delhi.
Earlier, six people with a connection to the New Delhi religious meeting tested positive in Guntur and Prakasam districts.
The government has tested 164 samples since last night. While 17 of them turned positive, the rest tested negative for the virus.
