Andhra Pradesh records 7,228 new Covid-19 cases, tally nears 650,000

: The aggregate number of

coronavirus positive cases increased to 6,46,530 in Andhra Pradesh as 7,228 were added afresh on Wednesday.

In the 24 hours ending 9 am on Wednesday, 8,291 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals while 45 more succumbed, the latest bulletin said.

The total number of recoveries has now risen to 5,70,667 and the gross toll to 5,506, it said.

The state now has 70,357 active cases.

East Godavari was the only district that continued to report more than a thousand new cases daily.

On Wednesday, it crossed the 90,000 total cases mark even as district Collector Muralidhar Reddy said the caseload decreased by one per cent in the last few days.

The neighbouring West Godavari district that added 962 new cases went past the 60,000 mark.

The state has so far completed 53.02 lakh sample tests at the rate of 99,295 per million population, turning out a positivity rate of 12.19 per cent.

Chittoor and Prakasam reported seven fresh fatalities in 24 hours, while Krishna reported five.

East and West Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts reported four more casualties each.