VISAKHAPATNAM: The district recorded around 25,000 cases of the coronavirus in August (till Sunday) as against 10,271 in July. Officials attributed the steep rise in infection rate to the increased testing capacity, as now 4,000-6,000 samples are being tested per day. Similarly, 91 people died of the disease till July 31 as against 161 in the last 30 days of August.

Meanwhile, the district breached the 36,000-mark in COVID tally as 866 new cases emerged on Sunday even as the toll reached 252 as four more patients died in a day.At the same time, another 853 people were discharged from COVID-19 hospitals.

With this, the district has 6,561 active cases against 6,552 a day earlier. A total of 29,859 persons have recovered completely, according to special officer (COVID-19) for Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam PV Sudhakar.

Out of the total 909 clusters, the district now has 49 very active, 61 active and 628 dormant clusters after the denotification of 171 others. Anakapalle, which registered 35 new infections, has a caseload of 1,332.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people thronged the Fishing Harbour in the city and flouted physical distancing norm.

"Though the cases are surging rapidly, the situation seems to have little effect on people," Rajaiah, a senior citizen, said.Also, Srikakulam district saw a single-day spike of 1,119 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, pushing the count to 23,500. As many as 756 others were discharged from COVID-19 hospitals in the same period.

The district now has 6,498 active cases (3,231 persons permitted to be in home isolation, 2,041 undergoing treatment at COVID-19 care centres and 1,226 being treated in various COVID-19 hospitals in the district). The medical teams have so far collected 2,80,522 samples.