Amaravati, Dec 18 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh has registered 458 new Covid positive cases, increasing the state's tally to 8.77 lakh, even as 534 more patients recovered from the virus to outnumber infections on Friday.

Chittoor accounted for the highest number of infections, 98, followed by Krishna (78), East Godavari (54), Guntur (41), West Godavari (35) and Anantapur (29).

Among other places, Visakhapatnam (28), Nellore (26), Vizianagaram (19), Kurnool and Srikakulam (13 each) and Prakasam (6).

With the new cases, East Godavari continues to be the district which has seen the highest number of infections at 1.23 lakh.

Andhra Pradesh's positivity rate fell to 7.88 per cent, but was still higher than the national average of 6.28 per cent.

Meanwhile, one more patient succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours, raising the state's Covid death toll to 7,070.

With 534 more people getting cured, the total number of recoveries rose to 8.66 lakh, narrowing the gap between total infections and recoveries.

However, the number of active cases declined to 4,377 in the past 24 hours.

With 69,062 more tests, the total number of Covid tests conducted in Andhra Pradesh crossed 1.11 crore.