Andhra Pradesh COVID-19 tally surges past 5 lakh mark

 Andhra Pradesh on Monday crossed the five-lakh mark in COVID-19 cases, riding on a rapid surge particularly in the last month.As 8,368 cases were added afresh in 24 hours ending 9 am on Monday, the state's COVID-19 aggregate touched 5,06,493, while 70 more died, pushing the toll up to 4,487.

The latest bulletin said 10,055 more patients recovered, taking the overall number of those cured to 4,04,074.The state now has 97,932 active cases.It broke a 12-day streak of reporting over 10,000 infections per day as only 8,000-plus cases were added on Monday, though relatively fewer tests were done on Sunday.

The overall infection positivity rate climbed further up to 12.16 per cent while the recovery rate also increased to 79.78 per cent.The mortality rate remained stable at 0.89 per cent, according to the bulletin.Prakasam district now has the highest number of 14,024 active coronavirus cases, pushing East Godavari to the second spot with 13,941.

Moving closer to the 25,000 total cases mark, Vizianagaram showed 9,002 active cases, the third highest in the state.

Andhra Pradesh reached the one lakh mark on July 27, two lakh on August 7 and three-lakh mark on August 18 and four lakh on August 28.

It took 180 days for the state to go from just one case to five lakh cases after the first person tested positive for the contagion on March 12, with the last two lakh coming in just 20 days.

(Image Credits:PTI)