Amravati, Jan 15 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh has registered 179 new Covid cases, increasing the state's tally to 8.85 lakh, even as 219 more patients recovered from the virus to outnumber fresh cases on Thursday.

Chittoor accounted for the highest number of cases at 51, followed by Guntur (26), East Godavari (17), Krishna (15), Kurnool (13), Anantapur (10), Prakasam, Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram (9 each), Nellore (8), Kadapa and West Godavari (5 each) and Srikakulam (2).

East Godavari district's tally crossed 1.24 lakh, highest among the districts, while Andhra Pradesh's positivity rate fell to 7.09 per cent, which is still higher than the national average of 5.71 per cent.

Though the total number of cases in the state has crossed 8.85 lakh, active cases have plummeted to 2,338.

Meanwhile, four more fatalities in the past 24 hours took the state's Covid-19 death toll to 7,138.

The recoveries now total more than 8.76 lakh in the state, narrowing the gap between total cases and recoveries. With 41,671 more tests, the total number of Covid-19 tests conducted in Andhra Pradesh so far has crossed 1.24 crore.