Amaravati, Jul 9 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh reported yet another record single day spike as 1,555 positive cases surfaced in the last 24 hours ending 9 a.m. on Thursday, the health officials said. The tally includes 55 returnees from outside the state. The previous single day high was recorded on Monday when 1,322 new cases were reported.

With Thursday's update, the Covid-19 tally has now touched 23,814 in Andhra Pradesh.

All the 13 districts reported fresh cases with the highest of 236 cases recorded in Chittoor district followed by Guntur (228), Visakhapatnam (208) and Srikakulam (206). Krishna with 127 cases, and Kadapa with 114 cases were the other districts that had a high number of new cases during the last 24 hours, state health officials said.

During the preceding 24 hours, the testing sample size was significantly lower at 16,882 tests. In comparison, the state had conducted tests on 27,743 samples in the cycle ending Wednesday morning.T he recovery rate remained robust with 904 persons discharged from hospitals in the state.

As on Thursday, 11,383 affected persons are receiving treatment at hospitals and designated Covid treatment centres. The cumulative tally of cured persons now stands at 12,154.

Thursday also saw 13 deaths reported from different parts of the state. Kurnool and Guntur reported the highest number of three deaths each, followed by two deaths each in Anantapur and Prakasam districts. Similarly, one death each was reported from Krishna, West Godavari, and Chittoor, districts. The overall death toll in Andhra Pradesh on account of covid, stands at 277 on Thursday.

Even as there was an upswing in the number of positive cases detected in returnees from other states to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana returnees remain the highest numbers in this category. Of the 53 new cases that were reported in this category, the high of 30 positive cases were from the neighbouring Telugu state. The remaining positive cases in this category include 5 positive samples each from Delhi and Odisha returnees, and 4 cases each from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. There were also 3 cases from Karnataka and also one case each from Bihar and Assam.

Till date, 2,319 persons have tested positive for Covid among the persons who returned from other states. The active cases tally in this category is 712, while 1,607 persons have been discharged till date.

On Thursday too as on Wednesday, only two new cases were reported from persons with a travel history to foreign countries. While one of the positive cases on Thursday morning was a person returning from Kuwait, the second person had a travel history t Russia. The cumulative tally of Covid patients in this category stands at 424, while 297 persons have been discharged after getting cured. As of Thursday, 127 persons in this category are undergoing treatment in hospitals.