Andhra Pradesh sees 1st coronavirus death, positive cases jump to 164

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh reported its first Covid-19 death on Friday as authorities confirmed that a 55-year-old man who died in Vijayawada on March 30 was a coronavirus victim.
With 14 new cases recorded on Friday, the number of positive cases in the state reached 164.
The new cases came from Nellore (8), Visakhapatnam (3) East Godavari (2) and Kadapa (1) districts.
About 140 cases have direct or first contact links to the Tablighi Jamaat meet held in mid-March in New Delhi.
According to the health authorities, the 55-year-old man went to the Government General Hospital in Vijayawada at 11.30 am on March 30, citing illness. The doctors collected his throat swab samples and sent them for testing. The patient, however, died within an hour of admission. He had co-morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes and cardiac issues.
According to sources, the deceased man's son had come back from Delhi to Vijayawada on a flight on March 17. He later tested positive for Covid-19 on March 31. The assumption was that the man might have acquired the virus from his son.
Dr A Srikanth, special secretary and state corona nodal officer, said the officials have identified 29 contacts of the family of the first Covid-19 victim and sent them to isolation wards.
Andhra Pradesh minister: All 7 labs will be operational from Apr 6
We have submitted to the Union government the details pertaining to the flight on which the young patient travelled from Delhi to Vijayawada. We have adhered to all the norms of the Covid-19 protocol,” said Srikanth.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday chaired a review meeting on the Covid-19 situation in the state.
AP health minister A Nani said 1,085 people from the state had attended the New Delhi religious congregation.
“Tests were conducted on 880 Delhi returnees, out of which 108 turned out to be positive. As many as 32 contacts of the Delhi returnees were diagnosed with Covid-19. All the seven labs, including the proposed one in Visakhapatnam, would become operational from April 6 with a combined testing capacity of 900 per day,” said Nani.