Coronavirus continued to spread rapidly across south coastal Andhra region as 14 more patients-- nine in Prakasam district and five in Nellore district succumbed to the disease while 1,954 more tested positive in the last 24 hours.

With this, the combined death toll in the two districts increased to 490 with Nellore accounting for 238 deaths and Prakasam district for 252 deaths, according to a health bulletin released by the State Government on Wednesday night.

The number of active cases continued to rise as 1,168 cases emerged from Nellore district and 786 in Prakasam district during the period. Following this, the total number of confirmed cases went up to 44,104, including 18,661 in Prakasam and 25,443 in Nellore. While 307 were recovered in Nellore, Prakasam saw discharge of 655 patients.

Reviewing the health situation, Prakasam District Collector P. Bhaskar attributed the spike in COVID-19 cases to patients in home isolation stepping out of their homes without understanding the consequences.

Two new clusters were formed in Prakasam district as the disease spread across 344 clusters, including 37 very active ones. As many as 59 patients died in the last one week.

He wanted the Auxiliary Nurse Midwives(ANMs) to visit in turns the 5,200 patients who were being treated at home and shift those whose health condition worsened.

He stressed the need for shifting only critical cases to the COVID-19 hospitals for a focussed approach to prevent deaths as the number of active cases stood at over 6,000. As many as 51 patients were being treated at the intensive care unit(ICU) as their health condition remained serious.