Amaravati, Apr 30 (IANS): With 71 new cases detected, Andhra Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 1403 on Thursday morning. The state nodal officer reported that in the last 24 hours ending 10 a.m. on Thursday, 6497 samples were tested, of which 71 results were found positive.

Kurnool district yet again reported a spike in coronavirus cases. While the district reported 43 cases on Thursday, it had reported 11 cases on Wednesday. On Tuesday too, the district had reported 40 cases. With a cumulative tally of 332 cases, the district leads in the number of coronavirus cases in the state.

The remaining 18 cases reported from the state over the past 24 hours are spread across 7 districts. While 10 cases were detected in Krishna district, Guntur and Kadapa districts reported 4 cases each, while Anantapur and Chittoor districts reported 3 cases each, and East Godavari and Nellore districts reported 2 cases each.

The death toll has remained static at 31, with no further casualties reported over the last few days in Andhra Pradesh.

The last 24 hours also saw 34 persons discharged after being cured of coronavirus. With 321 persons cured and discharged from various hospitals till date, the number of active cases in the state is 1051.

Vizianagaram district remains the only district in the state to remain untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the state government has issued notification for the recruitment of 1170 doctors to work at covid specialty hospitals in the 13 districts of the state. A notification has also been issued for recruiting 1070 specialist doctors on contract basis.