Amaravati, Aug 23 (IANS): Covid-19 claimed 93 more lives in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, taking the toll to 3,282, health officials said.

The state also reported 7,895 new cases, pushing the tally to 3,53,111.

Andhra Pradesh is the third worst-affected state in the country after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in terms of the number of Covid cases and records the fifth highest number of deaths after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Delhi.

According to state health department, 16 fatalities were reported from Nellore district, 13 in west Godavari district, 11 in Chittoor, 10 in Kurnool, 9 in Prakasam district, 8 in Kadapa, 6 in Srikakulam, 5 in Visakhapatnam and 4 in east Godavari.

Anantapur, Guntur and Krishna districts accounted for 3 deaths each, while 2 deaths were reported from Vizianagaram district.

During the last 24 hours, 1,256 cases were reported from east Godavari district. As many as 985 cases were reported from Nellore, 934 from Chittoor and 923 from Prakasam district.

The period also saw 7,449 people recovering from the virus. With this the cumulative recoveries rose to 2,60,087. The recovery rate in the state improved to 73.66 per cent while the national average was 74.9 per cent.

The state now has 89,742 active cases with maximum 17,228 in east Godavari, followed by 9,999 in Chittoor, 7,003 in Vizianagaram, 6,810 in Guntur and 6,058 in Visakhapatnam.

During the last 24 hours ending 9 a.m. Sunday, the authorities conducted 46,712 tests comprising 29,716 VRDL/Truenat/NACO tests and 16,996 rapid-antigen tests. The state has tested 31,91,326 samples so far.

Andhra Pradesh stands fourth after Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in the number of tests. However, it ranks first in terms of tests per million with 60,637. With a 10.91 per cent positivity rate, it fares better than states like Maharashtra (18.79 per cent), Karnataka (11.46) and Telangana (11.43).