Five more people succumbed to COVID-19 in Prakasam district while 157 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
With this, the death toll went up to 39 in the district, a health bulletin issued by the State Government said on Tuesday.
The number of positive cases rose to 2,629, while 2,006 persons tested negative for the disease, the district medical and health department said.
The disease rapidly spread to more villages coinciding with the lifting of the lockdown. All roads leading to remote Sankavarapadu and Manetikota villages were sealed as 13 and six persons respectively tested positive for the disease.
With 20 fresh cases, Ongole continued to be at the top with 522 cumulative confirmed cases, a report compiled by COVID-19 Nodal Officer John Richards said. New cases were also reported from far-flung villages like Pedaraveedu, R.G. Palli, Karedu, Tellapadu, Garladinne, Boinavaripalem, Namburivaripalem, Mundlamuru, Pokuru, B. Nidamanuru, Ponnaluru, Vemparla, Pulalacheruvu, Dornala, Peda Alavalapadu, and Chowtapalem.
As the number of confirmed cases crossed the 2,600 mark in Nellore district, Collector K.V.N. Chakradhara Babu held a meeting with private hospitals with a view to ultilise their services in checking the spread of the disease since the designated COVID-19 hospitals were full of patients.
The Collector asked the hospitals to earmark beds in intensive care units at their respective hospitals.
“The district is likely to witness more cases in the next two months,” he said, adding that 4,000 tests were being done presently each day to trace all the primary and secondary contacts of the infected persons and provide them timely treatment. Mild and asymptomatic cases can be treated by isolating them in their homes itself, he said.