New COVID infections showed a slight increase in the South Coastal Andhra region while unabated fatalities continued to be a cause of concern.
Eleven patients in Prakasam district and nine in SPSR Nellore district succumbed to the disease in the past 24 hours ending 9.00 am on Tuesday. With this, the toll increased to 1,539 in the region.
SPSR Nellore district accounted for 777 deaths so far and Prakasam district for 762 deaths. Fresh cases, which fell to 1,206 on Monday, climbed to 1,626-- 648 in SPSR Nellore district and 978 in Praksam district-- in the past 24 hours. However, the daily tally has come down significantly over the last three days after reporting over 3,000 cases last week. Recoveries continued to improve further as 3,200 patients were discharged during the period. As recoveries outnumbered new cases by over 1,500, the active caseload dropped further to a little over 39,000 in the region.
In Ongole, YSR Congress Party MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy inaugurated the vaccination drive for scribes in the presence of District Collector P. Bhaskar and Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists State president I.V. Subba Rao.
Meanwhile, with the backlog of those awaiting their second dose going up, crowding at vaccination centres continued across the region. Many of those(all aged above 45) who thronged a session site at the Zilla Parishad school in Martur in Prakasam had to return without taking the jab fearing infection as social distancing went for a toss.
