Amaravati, Apr 6 (IANS): With samples of a further 14 persons testing positive, the number of COVID-19 infected persons in Andhra Pradesh rose to 266 on Monday morning. The state nodal officer said that the data pertains to test results obtained between 6 p.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. on Monday.

As per the state nodal officer, Dr. Srikanth Arja, 5 of the new cases are in Visakhapatnam, 3 each in Anantapur and Kurnool, 2 from Guntur, and 1 in West Godavari. As of Monday, five persons in the state have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals.

Of the 13 districts in AP, coronavirus cases have been reported from all districts except Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. Kurnool has reported 56 cases, the highest number in the state. Other districts where a high number of COVID-19 cases have been detected are Nellore with 34 cases, Guntur with 32, and Krishna with 28 cases. These are followed by Kadapa and Prakasam districts with 23 cases each, Visakhapatnam with 20 cases, Chittooru with 17 cases, West Godavari with 16 cases, East Godavari with 11 cases and Anantapur with 6 cases.

Meanwhile, the high incidence of coronavirus cases in Kurnool has put the authorities on alert. With a total of 56 corona positive cases reported from the district so far, the authorities have tightened lockdown rules in Kurnool district. A total of 463 samples were collected for testing by the authorities, of which 56 have tested positive while 287 samples tested negative for COVID-19. Results for the remaining cases are awaited.

Officials said that of the 56 positive cases in the district, 55 samples belong to the people who were part of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Delhi between March 15-17.