The Visakhapatnam district reported 156 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally to 61,681, as on Saturday morning. The district reported second highest number of COVID-19 cases in a day after Chittoor (180) in the last 24 hours.
With the new cases, the total number of cases reported in March have breached the 1,000-mark. Since February 28 to March 27, the total number of new infections reported from the district was 1,141, as against 268 cases reported in February.
The number of active cases also rose to 766 by Saturday morning. On March 1, the active cases were just 24.
According to the bulletin released by the Health Department on Saturday, 37 persons have recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 60,372. The death toll stands at 543 as no death was reported in the last 24 hours.
The district Health Department is conducting about 7,500 tests on a daily basis.
District Collector V. Vinay Chand has asked the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) P. Suryanarayana to form special teams which would take up contact tracing in the district. He instructed him to declare containment zone if cases are reported in an area and also conduct door-to-door survey.
He has asked the DMHO to get ready with beds in Community Health Centre (CHC), Area Hospital and District Hospitals, as the cases have been increasing. All these hospitals should have ventilators, oxygen supply and other required amenities, the Collector said.
Mr. Vinay Chand instructed Andhra Medical College Principal P.V. Sudhakar to make arrangements at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), King George Hospital (KGH) and Government Hospital for Chest & Communicable Diseases (GHCCD) with adequate number of beds. Equipment, ventilators, technicians, food supply, manpower, paramedical, medical and sanitary staff, ambulances, drivers and medicines must be kept ready, the Collector said.