Andhra Pradesh continued to witness an alarming increase in coronavirus cases. The state reported 7,822 new COVID-19 cases, taking the cumulative count in the state to 1,66,586. Apart from the infections, some 63 new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the state-wide death toll to 1,537.
Coronavirus cases in the state have swelled for four straight weeks, having recorded 8-000-10,000 fresh cases every day. Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the worst-affected state by coronavirus in the country only after Maharashtra (4.4 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (2,63,222). In the last two weeks, Andhra Pradesh has toppled Karnataka and Delhi to claim the dubious third place in the country’s Covid-19 ranking.
Andhra Pradesh not only broke its own single-day spike but overshadowed records set by other states. With more than 60,000 cases reported in just one week, Andhra Pradesh had already unseated Delhi to clinch the dubious third spot in the country’s Covid-19 tally.
On July 1, the state had reported 15,252 COVID-19 cases. By July 30, this number had climbed to 1,30,557 cases. Of these, 60,000 cases were reported in seven days. Last Friday, Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest single-day spike of 10,376 coronavirus cases, 10,167 cases on Thursday and 10,093 cases a day before.
The pace at which the cases are rising in the state, it won’t be surprising if AP will unseat Tamil Nadu to claim the dubious rank of the second worst-hit pandemic state in the country though the margin of 1 lakh cases seems wide.
Experts attributed the recent surge to increased testing and widespread transmission of the disease. Further, the experts also blamed relaxations of lockdown measures which had resulted in people gathering in crowds, no longer heeding to guidelines such as maintaining physical distance or wearing face masks.
The Andhra Pradesh government had lifted all curbs on inter-state and intra-state travel, and commercial activity in the state moved towards ‘normalcy’. The increase in COVID-19 cases has happened during this time. Many blamed Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for his “learn to live with the virus” policy rather taking stringent measures to combat the pandemic.
For the fifth straight week, Andhra Pradesh also witnessed a record spike in the death toll due to the viral infection. In the last 24 hours, AP reported 63 deaths taking the number of fatalities to 1537.
The state has 76,377 known active cases and 88,672 discharged after recovery. Andhra Pradesh’s infection positivity rate increased to 7.22 per cent. Among the states with over 20,000 cases, it has the second-worst recovery ratio of 45.3 per cent. Only Karnataka outranks AP with a ratio of around 40 per cent.
