Amaravati, Jul 6 (IANS): With a record 1322 positive cases detected over the past 24 hours, Andhra Pradesh's Covid-19 tally shot past the 20,000 mark on Monday. The latest update takes the cumulative tally of Covid-19 cases to 20,019, which includes cases detected among returnees from other states and foreign countries.

State health officials said that compared to the 20,567 tests conducted on Sunday, only 16,712 tests were conducted in the preceding 24 hours. Incidentally, the state had surpassed the one million mark in testing with 10, 17,140 tests conducted till Sunday.

As many as 424 persons were discharged from hospitals on Monday. As on Monday, 10,860 affected persons were receiving treatment at hospitals and designated Covid treatment centres in the state. The cumulative tally of cured persons now stands at 8920.

The death toll dipped substantially on Monday, with 7 deaths reported during the past 24 hours from different parts of the state. Srikakulam reported the highest number of 2 deaths, followed by one death each in Anantapur, Chittoor, Krishna, Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts. The death toll in Andhra Pradesh on account of Covid-19 stood at 239 on Monday.

Guntur reported the highest day tally of 197 cases followed by East Godavari with 171 cases, Anantapur with 142 cases and Kurnool with 136 cases. Other districts that reported substantial cases in the preceding 24 hours include Chittoor with 120 cases and Visakhapatnam with 101 cases.

Continuing the trend of the past few days, returnees from Telangana figured prominently among the positive cases detected in returnees from other states. Of the 56 new cases that were reported in this category, the high of 42 positive cases belonged to Telangana returnees. Of the remainder, 6 of the Covid positive samples belonged to returnees from Karnataka, 3 cases from Tamil Nadu and 2 cases each from Odisha and Maharashtra. Apart from this, one case from Kerala was also reported.

Till date, 2235 persons have tested positive for Covid among the persons who returned from other states. The active cases tally in Andhra Pradesh is 802, while 1434 persons have been cured till date.

In terms of foreign returnees testing positive, all the 3 new cases were of persons with a travel history to Kuwait. The cumulative tally of Covid patients in this category stands at 419, while 235 persons have been discharged after getting cured. As of Monday, 184 persons in this category were undergoing treatment in hospitals.