There was no rest for people from COVID-19 on the south coast of Andhra Pradesh as 13 more patients succumbed to the viral disease and more than 3,200 people became infected within 24 hours.
As a result, active cases in the past 24 hours, which ended at 9 a.m. on Sunday, rose to a new high of 37,988 in the region. The toll rose to 1,417 in the region when seven patients died in the SPSR Nellore district and six in the Prakasam district. This emerges from a health bulletin published by the state government on Sunday evening.
The overall balance topped 1.95 lakh when 1,628 people in Prakasam District and 1,593 people in SPSR Nellore District tested positive for the disease in the past 24 hours.
Pressure on health infrastructure in the area continued as the gap between new admissions and restores exceeded 1,500.
Up to 1,188 patients in SPSR Nellore district and 500 patients in Prakasam district were discharged after recovery.
While reviewing the health situation in Ongole, State Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy wanted health professionals to bring in their mite to ensure a speedy recovery of the patients and promised to extend all possible government support.
The doctors told him that the pressure on the government hospital in Ongole had decreased after the makeshift beds with oxygen systems were set up.
They wanted the minister to expand the health infrastructure in public health centers across the district.
Helpline
In Nellore, district collector KVNChakradhar Babu checked the health situation and admonished patients to apply for admission to hospitals or COVID care centers only on 104 instead of going directly to private hospitals.
Noticing that some of the patients were approaching quacks, he urged the public to pass information about them to 1077.
There was no oxygen starvation in the district as it was replenished by RINL (Visakhapatnam) as well as Chennai and Sriperambadur in Tamil Nadu, he said.
The collector suggested that those in need of oxygen should go to named hospitals or CCCs. The demand for oxygen for individuals and unregistered hospitals would be discouraged, he made clear.