VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh has accumulated 17.38 lakh Covid-19 cases as of June 4, Friday. The average case positivity rate of the state stood at 8.86%.
With 2.35 lakh cumulative infections, East Godavari continues to top the charts. The south-coastal district does not only top the state in terms of aggregate caseload, but also for case positivity rate. The Godavari district recorded a 13.3% positivity rate, the highest among all districts. Yet the same district has the lowest case mortality rate (0.42%) compared to other districts of the state.
Another major disease cluster, Chittoor, reported a case positivity rate of 11.2%. Kadapa has the lowest case positivity rate of 7.2%. When it comes to mortality rate, Krishna (1.09%) is the only district to have a more than 1% fatality rate. Srikakulam recorded 0.54% deaths among all positive cases.
East Godavari was the first district in the state to cross the one lakh Covid-19 case mark in October last year, and it consequently became the only district to reach the grim two-lakh case milestone on May 22.
East Godavari, the most populous district of the state, registered its first Covid-19 case on March 21 last year when a youth who returned from London was diagnosed with the disease.
The south-coastal Andhra Pradesh district reported an around 1,800% increase in Covid-19 cases in July last year, topping the country in terms of percentage of increase in cases. Even during the ongoing second wave, it was one of the 10 districts in the country showing an exponential growth in terms of daily cases for several days in May.
In the initial weeks of the outbreak, both in the first and second waves, Kakinada and Rajahmundry rural and urban mandals used to contribute as much as between 80-90% cases. But rural parts of the district have been adding more cases to the table in the recent weeks.
Andhra Pradesh conducted 1,96,19,590 Covid-19 tests as of May 4. Tests per million population in Andhra Pradesh number at 3,67,408 as against the all-India average of 2,57,703.
Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Anil Kumar Singhal said that Andhra Pradesh is showing a consistent improvement in daily infections and positivity rate. “More than 9,800 oxygen and ICU beds are available for patients in the state as of Saturday afternoon. As the daily infections are reducing, the Covid care centres currently have only 12,247 patients,” said Singhal.