Amaravati, Sep 6 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh's coronavirus cases neared the 5-lakh mark as it reported 10,794 more patients on Sunday even as 70 more fatalities pushed the state's death toll to 4,417.
The state's mortality rate stands at 0.89 per cent as against the national average of 1.72 per cent, officials said.
For the 12th consecutive day, the state recorded over 10,000 new cases, taking the tally to 4,98,125, the second highest in the country after Maharashtra.
During the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Sunday, nine deaths were reported from Chittoor district, eight each from Anantapur, Guntur and Prakasam. Seven people died in Kadapa, five each in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, and West Godavari districts, four each in Krishna, Kurnool, and Nellore, two in Srikakulam, and one in Vizianagaram.
Chittoor continues to top the districts with 473 deaths, followed by East Godavari (427), and Guntur (419).
The media bulletin released by the State Command Control Room shows COVID spread continued across the state.
Nellore saw the biggest jump of 1,299 cases. East Godavari saw 1,244 new infections. This pushed the total cases in the district to 66, 948, highest in the state.
Officials said 1,101 new cases were recorded in West Godavari district, and 1,042 in Prakasam.
More patients recovered than the new cases during the 24-hour period. Officials said 11,915 patients recovered, taking cumulative recoveries to 3,94,019 and improving the recovery rate to 79.10 per cent.
The average recovery rate for the country is 77.32 per cent
The active cases came down to 99,689 in Andhra Pradesh, with East Godavari having the maximum 14,454 cases, followed by 14,109 in Prakasam, 8,979 in Chittoor, 8,876 in Vizianagaram, and 7,597 in Guntur.
During the last 24 hours, the authorities conducted a record 72,573 tests -- 35,358 VRDL/Truenat/NACO tests and 37,215 rapid antigen tests. The state has so far tested 41,07,890 samples, fourth highest in the country.
The state has conducted 76,927 tests per million as against the national average of 35,206.