The COVID-19 tally in Andhra Pradesh passed over 16,000 on Thursday with 845 people testing positive during the last 24 hours, health officials said. The state also reported five deaths, raising the death toll to 198.

Srikakulam, Krishna, Guntur, Anantapur and Kurnool recorded one death each. As per the media bulletin by the State Command Control Room, 14,285 samples were examined during the last 24 hours.

Out of them, 845 tested positive. It comprised of four returnees from abroad and 29 people from other states. The health department said 281 people were released from hospitals, taking the number of recoveries to 7,313.

In the meantime, 8,586 patients were undergoing treatment 6,673 in hospitals and 1,913 in COVID-19 care centres.

In Tamil Nadu, the total Covid-19 cases crossed 98 thousand marks with 4343 people tested positive yesterday. The new patients include two members of the State Legislative Assembly belonging to the ruling AIADMK. They are admitted to hospitals. Meanwhile, the State Health Minister Dr. C Vijayabhaskar has said the government is taking measures to further enhance testing of people who are suspected to be carriers of the virus.

Reports said that the Tamil Nadu government has placed an order for procuring ten lakh additional RT-PCR kits to augment the ongoing Covid-19 tests. Talking to reporters in Chennai yesterday, the state health minister Dr C Vijayabhaskar said 93 percent of the funds required for the kits are being met from the state resources. As a measure of capacity expansion, a 750-bed new Covid-19 care facility in Chennai with all required infrastructure like laboratory, CT-Scan, ultrasound scan and oxygen pipelines is set to be dedicated in a few days. 10-thousand vials of the injection remdesivir, a large number of tocilizumab that are being used in the clinical management of Covid-19 patients have been procured and sent to all major government hospitals in the state.

Dr. Vijayabhaskar also assured that the special pay of one month salary to all frontline workers in the state who are fighting against the pandemic will soon be disbursed as a measure of gratitude and encouragement