Coronavirus continued to spread across the south coastal Andhra region as 16 more patients -- 12 in SPSR Nellore district and four in Prakasam district -- lost the battle against the viral disease in the last 24 hours.

With this, the toll rose to 397 in the two districts, where 1,558 persons tested positive during the period, according to a health bulletin released by the State government on Friday.

The toll went up to 191 in SPSR Nellore district. The figure was 206 in Prakasam district, where 54 patients succumbed to the dreaded disease in just a week. The cumulative positive cases in the two districts went up to 35,398 including 20,433 in SPSR Nellore district.

Positive sign

A positive development was that 1,427 patients -- 1,020 in SPSR Nellore district and 407 in Prakasam district were discharged from hospitals during the period.

The number of active cases came down to 4,753 in SPSR Nellore district which reported 761 fresh cases during the period.

With 797 persons testing positive in 311 clusters, including 18 new ones, the number of active cases stood at 5,712 in Prakasam district.

Over 3,500 patients in Prakasam district were treated at their homes with hospitals filled to their capacity. The condition of 48 of the 976 symptomatic patients being treated at COVID-19 hospitals remained critical. Over 1,100 patients were treated at COVID-19 Care Centres set up in Ongole, Kandukur and Markapur revenue divisions in the district.

Ongole accounted for a maximum of 135 new cases followed by Kandukur with 42 cases, Kanigiri(39), Addanki(33), Chimakurthy(27), Kothapatnam(21), Darsi(18) and Konakanamitla(18).