Prime Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has canceled his April 14th Tirupati Bypoll campaign amid the likely spread of COVID-19.
In a letter to the electorate on Saturday, Mr Jagan said he had decided to cancel his tour as the number of COVID cases had increased rapidly.
According to the latest bulletin, 2,765 new COVID cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours with a positivity rate of 8.67%, which was above the national rate of 5.87%.
The constituency of Tirupati, which is spread across the Chittoor and Nellore districts, has seen a surge in recent days.
Of the 2,765 positive cases in the state, 496 cases were recorded in Chittoor and 292 cases in Nellore districts. Of the 11 people who died from COVID, four were from Chittoor and Nellore districts.
“Since the public meeting will attract large crowds, there is a risk of thrust in the number of cases. As the prime minister in charge and chairman, I have decided to cancel the April 14 meeting, ”said Jagan.
He appealed to voters to give his party candidate, M. Gurumoorthy, a mandate with greater leeway than that recorded in previous elections.