With Andhra Pradesh reporting first corona death in Vijayawada and a sudden spike in cases of positive Covid-19 in the state, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday held a high-level review meeting with Group of Ministers (GoM) and concerned officials to discuss the coronavirus situation in the state.

A 55-year-old man from Vijayawada died on Friday, the first corona death reported in AP. While more details are awaited on this, the the Andhra Pradesh government is holding a meeting to discuss the growing number of cases. The government, it is learnt, has taken a serious view of the surge in corona cases especially arising out of the Tablighi Jamaat attendees who returned to AP from South Delhi’s Nizamuddin after attending the religious congregation in Markaz Masjid between March 13-March 15.

On Friday, Nellore reported eight fresh positive cases of corona taking its tally to 32, while Krishna stands second in the list with 23 cases of corona closely followed by Guntur with 20 cases. Kadapa, the home district of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, reported 19 positive cases of Covid-19.

With the surge in the new cases, the government is likely to take some more stringent measures at the high level meeting attended by deputy CM Alla Nani, MAUD minister Botsa Satyanaraya. At the previous high-level meeting, the government had reduced the relaxation time given to citizens for buying essentials during lockdown by two hours in urban areas. The government directed people to buy essential commodities between 6 am to 11 am every day.