With two more persons succumbing to COVID-19 in Guntur district and 56 new cases as of Wednesday morning, the toll in Andhra Pradesh touched 24 and the tally of positive cases was 813.
On the brighter side, 24 patients – eight from Guntur, five from Anantapur, four each from Nellore and Kadapa, two from Krishna and one from Visakhapatnam – were discharged from hospitals after recovery. So far, 120 have recovered, and active cases stand at 669.
Acknowledged hotspots Kurnool and Guntur districts reported 19 new cases each taking the tally in the districts to 203 and 177 respectively.
The number of new cases in other districts was: Chittoor six, Kadapa five, Prakasam four, and Krishna three.
With 19 of 21 persons who had tested positive in Visakhapatnam recovering so far, there were only two active cases there.
The tally of positive cases in others districts was Krishna (86), Nellore (67), Chittoor (59), Kadapa (51), Prakasam (48), West Godavari (39), Anantapur (36), and East Godavari (26).
Meanwhile, the State claimed that it was ahead of other States in the COVID-19 tests per million, conducting 813 tests as of Wednesday.
So far, 41,512 samples had been tested and in the last 24 hours, 5,757 samples were taken up.
Among them, 3,082 were tested using TrueNat kits, the Health Department said.
Rajasthan, which was leading until Tuesday, is now in the second position with 809 tests per million.
Baby tests positive
Nine new cases — including a four-month-old baby from Kalaburagi and the mother — were detected on Wednesday taking the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Karnataka to 427.
The baby is the youngest patient to date in Karnataka.
Among the new cases, while five were from Kalaburgi, two each were reported from Bengaluru Urban and Nanjangud, Mysuru. While one had severe acute respirary illness, the other four were contacts of previous positive patients.
Of the two positive cases from Bengaluru Urban district, which had not reported any cases for the last three days, one was a 54-year-old labourer from Bommanahalli slum, who had no contact or travel history.
“This person reported with SARI symptoms. We have identified his 24 primary contacts and 50 secondary contacts,” said Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar.
The Minister said a total of 3,279 samples were tested on Wednesday.
Validation of the rapid antibody blood-based test strips is under way at NIMHANS, and the Health Department would wait for a “green signal” from the ICMR before using them, said Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare).
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has directed Surveillance Officers of all States to formulate patient data privacy norms.
“Personally identifiable data should be shared with discretion and strict privacy should be ensured,” stated a NCDC circular.
A State-level expert committee recommended that cases of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI), with symptoms similar to COVID-19, should be screened at the initial stages to arrest morbidity and mortality due to COVID- 19.
10 Hyderabad cases
One person died and COVID -19 cases in Telangana touched 943 as 15 more were detected on Wednesday. Of the 15 positive cases, 10 were from GHMC area, three from Suryapet, and two from Gadwal. Till April 22, there were 725 active cases, 194 were discharged, and 24 people had died.
11 positive in Kerala
Eleven more persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Kerala on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 437. Kannur had seven new cases, Kozhikode two, and Kottayam and Malappuram districts one case each.
One patient from Palakkad tested negative and was put on the recovery list.
Five new cases were persons who returned from abroad and three got the disease from imported infections.
Two house surgeons and a nurse at Kozhikode Medical College were among the 11 new cases.