Andhra, Karnataka see new highs in COVID cases; over 100 deaths in Tamil Nadu

Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday crossed 2.50 lakh overall cases of COVID-19, while Karnataka reported its highest single-day spike of 7,000-plus infections and Tamil Nadu witnessed yet another day of over 100 virus- related deaths.

Kerala and Telangana continued to record in excess of 1,000 cases. Andhra Pradesh had incidentally touched the two lakh mark just five days ago on August 7.

From its maiden case on March 12, AP's COVID-19 graph has peaked to over 2.5 lakh cases in just about 154 days, thanks to the heavy virus loads witnessed in the recent days.

The state had reported over 10,000 plus cases on many days recently, reaching the third spot in the country behind Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

On Wednesday, the state added another 9,597 to its tally and its infection positivity rate continued to spiral, reaching 9.59 per cent.

It recorded 93 fresh coronavirus casualties while another 6,676 patients recovered and got discharged from hospitals across the state in the last 24 hours, the latest government bulletin said.

The state's cumulative COVID-19 tally touched 2,54,146 and now has 90,425 active cases after 1,61,425 patients recovered and 2,296 succumbed.

Health department officials said 80 per cent of the coronavirus cases being reported were asymptomatic.

Karnataka on Wednesday reported its biggest single-day spike of 7,883 COVID-19 cases and 113 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 1,96,494 and the death toll to 3,510.

As many as 7,034 patients were discharged after recovery. The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on August 8 with 7,178 cases.

As of August 12 evening, cumulatively 1,96,494 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 3,510 deaths and 1,12,633 discharges, the government said. There were 80,343 active cases.

Tamil Nadu's upward spiral continued. The state reported 5,871 fresh confirmed coronavirus infections on Wednesday,pushing the overall tally to 3,14,520 while 119 fatalities took the death toll to 5,278.

Active cases stood at 52,929 with 5,633 discharges from various health care facilities and in total 2,56,313 have recovered, a health department bulletin said.

Kerala's virus tally today stood at 38,144 with the addition of 1,212 fresh cases, besides five deaths that took the toll from the pandemic to 125.

"Currently 13,045 people are under treatment for COVID-19 in the state. At least 1,51,752 people are under observation, including 12,426 in isolation wards of various hospitals across the state," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Telangana too continued to see an increase in COVID-19 cases with nine more fatalities and 1,897 new cases being reported, taking the total number of people infected by the virus in the state to 84,544.

The death toll mounted to 654 with nine more deaths, a state government bulletin said on Wednesday, providing data as of 8 PM on August 11.

Out of the total 1,897 fresh cases, 479 were reported from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri 172, Rangareddy 162, Sangareddy 107 and Warangal Urban 87.

Puducherry, a union territory, registered its highest single-day spurt of 481cases and five deaths on Wednesday, taking the overall tally to 6,381.

With the five new deaths, toll from the contagion went up to 96.

The UT's former Local Administration Minister A Elumalai succumbed to COVID-19 at the centrally administered JIPMER on Wednesday.