Andhra Pradesh reported 97 new COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, the biggest spike in a day, and 10,080 new infections. The death toll stood at 1,939 and the tally of infections at 2,17,040.

Kerala reported the highest single day spike in new cases, when 1,420 persons tested positive. Four deaths in Kasaragod, Kollam, Kozhikode and Ernakulam were included in the official toll by the Health department, taking total fatalities to 106.

In Telangana, 2,256 more samples tested positive on Friday. This was the highest single-day figure. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the State stood at 77,513. Fourteen more patients died and the death toll touched 615. The 2,256 new cases included 464 from Greater Hyderabad, 181 from Rangareddy, and 138 from Medchal-Malkajgiri. Besides, 187 cases were in Warangal Urban, 101 in Karimnagar, 95 in Jogulamba Gadwal, and 92 in Sangareddy.

Of the total 77,513 cases so far, 22,568 were active. The percentage distribution of deaths attributed to COVID-19 and co-morbidities remained unchanged in the past 11 days (July 28-August 7). Asked about this, senior State Health department officials said the total used for the calculation was the cumulative number of deaths.

In Andhra Pradesh, there were 85,486 active cases.

So far 24.24 lakh samples were tested including the 62,123 samples in the past day. The positivity rate of tests was 9% and the death rate 0.89%.

Nearly half of the fresh fatalities were from Guntur (14), Anantapur (11), Kurnool (10) and West Godavari (10). The remaining were from Chittoor (8), Nellore (8), Prakasam (7), Srikakulam (7), East Godavari (6), Visakhapatnam (5), Vizianagaram (5), Krishna (4) and Kadapa (2).

Meanwhile, only two districts reported more than 1,000 new infections. Kurnool reported 1,353 cases and East Godavari reported 1,310 cases. Visakhapatnam reported 998, Anantapur (976), Chittoor (963), Nellore (878), West Godavari (681) , Guntur (601), Kadapa (525), Prakasam (512), Vizianagaram (450), Srikakulam (442) and Krishna reported 391 new cases.

Kerala’s cumulative case burden stood at 33,120. Patients currently undergoing treatment in hospitals were put at 12,109.

Of the new 1,420 new cases reported on Saturday, 1,252 were locally acquired infections, including 30 health care workers. No epidemiological link was found in 92 cases.

Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said Thiruvananthapuram district would require prolonged interventions.

Karnataka’s COVID-19 death toll went up to 3,091 on Saturday, with 93 new fatalities.

New cases reported on Saturday stood at 7,178, the highest in a single day, raising the total to 1.72 lakh, Department of Health and Family Welfare data said.

The number of active cases in the State was lower with a total of 79,765 cases as of Saturday.

Saturday saw 43,883 fresh tests being conducted, of which 22,310 were rapid antigen tests.

(With inputs from Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru bureaus)