Amaravati, May 30 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh's COVID-19 tally on Saturday shot up significantly with 70 positive cases detected from tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

The state nodal officer, however, said that 71 cases were identified from returnees from other states.

Saturday's COVID-19 tally figure includes three persons with travel histories to the Koyambedu market in Chennai.

The state nodal officer reported that with the addition of 70 new cases over the past 24 hours, the state's tally was 2,944 at 9 a.m. on Saturday. All three cases with the Koyambedu connection were reported from Chittoor district.

The Koyambedu market which has since been closed, was identified as one of the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 cases in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

In a positive sign, on Friday, Andhra Pradesh's cumulative tally of foreign returnees to the state remained unchanged at 111. This figure has remained unchanged since Wednesday.

On Saturday, 55 persons were discharged from hospitals, resulting in a cumulative tally of 2092 cured persons in Andhra Pradesh. With this, the number of active cases stands at 792.

The nodal officer reported that 9,504 samples were tested during the past 24 hours as against 11,638 samples that were tested during the preceding testing cycle.

With no deaths reported from any district, the death toll in the state remained at 60 on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile the cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases among returnees from other states climbed to 406 from 345, even as the tally of active cases fell to 217 in this category.