Amaravati, Nov 26 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh has registered 1,031 new Covid positive cases, increasing the state's tally to 8.65 lakh even as 1,081 more patients recovered from the virus to outnumber infections on Thursday.

Guntur accounted for the highest number of infections, 172, in the past 24 hours, followed by Krishna (162), West Godavari (126), East Godavari (117), Chittoor (102), Visakhapatnam (84) and Anantapuram (56).

Among other places, Kadapa (55), Prakasam (43), Nellore (41), Vizianagaram (29), Srikakulam (23) and Kurnool (21).

With the new additions, East Godavari continues to shoulder the highest number of cases at 1.22 lakh.

Meanwhile, eight more people succumbed to the virus on Thursday, raising the total number of Covid deaths in the state to 6,970.

Chittoor district has witnessed the highest number of Covid deaths at 824.

On Thursday, 1,081 more patients recovered from the virus to increase the total number of recoveries to 8.46 lakh, narrowing the gap between total infections and recoveries.

Of the 8.65 lakh cases, active cases have plummeted to 12,615.

Andhra Pradesh has the highest ratio of Covid tests per million samples in the country. It has tested 1.84 lakh people for every million population while the national average is 98,004.

The southern state's positivity rate has come down to 8.78 per cent.

With 67,269 more tests, Andhra Pradesh has tested more than 98 lakh samples for Covid-19 and is fast approaching the one crore mark.