Andhra Pradesh Coronavirus cases rise to 5,555, 90 dead and 2,906 recovered till June 17

• There are 2,559 active cases of Coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh.
• So far, 2,906 patients have recovered, including an 85-year-old woman from Anantapur.
• A majority of the the cases are from Kurnool, Guntur, Nellore and Krishna districts.

Andhra Pradesh has reported 275 new cases of Coronavirus on June 17, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 5,555. Andhra Pradesh has reported 2 new deaths in the state, taking the total toll in the state to 90.

On June 17, 55 persons were discharged from hospitals, resulting in a cumulative tally of 2,906 cured persons in Andhra Pradesh. With this, the number of active cases stands at 2,559. The state nodal officer reported that 15,188 samples were tested during the past 24 hours.


Note: The Andhra Pradesh government has not included the 1,516 patients from other states and foreign returnees that were earlier included in the total cases.

The Andhra Pradesh government has been releasing bulletins on Twitter. Apart from information about the steps taken by the government to control the disease, information about the patients, including their recent travel history is also posted here.

Covid-19 crisis forces budget outlay cut on Andhra

Major economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the Andhra Pradesh government to cut down the budget size for 2020-21 by 1.4 per cent over the previous financial year.

Finance Minister B. Rajendranath on Tuesday presented a Rs 2.24 lakh crore budget in the Assembly.

He proposed an expenditure of Rs 2,24,789 crore, comprising Rs 1,80,392 crore revenue expenditure and Rs 44,396 crore capital expenditure.

The estimated revenue deficit is around Rs 18,434 crore and the fiscal deficit is estimated at around Rs 48,295 crore. The fiscal deficit will be around 4.78 per cent of the GSDP, whereas the revenue deficit will be around 1.82 per cent of the GSDP.

Four-month-old baby recovers from Covid in Andhra

A four-month-old baby in Andhra Pradesh has recovered from Covid-19, after being on ventilator for 18 days, officials said.

The recovery, which is sure to give hope to many battling the dreaded virus, happened in Visakhapatnam.

The baby, who had picked up the virus from her mother, was discharged from Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) late on Friday.

Tirupathi receives ₹25.7 lakh donations on first day

The world's richest Hindu shrine managed by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) saw offerings to the tune of ₹25.7 lakh pour in on Monday, when its doors were opened for the devotees, about 80 days after they were shut in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

People freely move around in Andhra sans masks in Unlock 1.0

On a day when lockdown measures were relaxed and businesses opened up, the common public in Andhra Pradesh were seen moving freely, most of them without a mask, with Unlock 1.0 entering its second week on Monday.

"Most people are not wearing masks. People are moving around freely, both on foot and on vehicles," Anil Kumar Govada, who drove from Kalla Mandal in West Godavari district to Vuyyuru in Krishna district on Monday morning, covering a distance of 78 km, told IANS.

"I have seen some devotees at a temple in Singarayipalem in Krishna district," said Kumar about the village which is enroute Gudivada town.

Andhra deploys IBM Watson chatbot to answer Covid-19 queries

The Andhra Pradesh National Health Mission portal has integrated the IBM Watson virtual agent to help the residents quickly get answers to their queries about Covid-19.

The chatbot is designed to understand and respond to common questions about Covid-19 in English, Telugu and Hindi, IBM said on Thursday. The virtual agent is deployed in a web browser and it is built in a way that it safeguards the privacy of the users, the company added.

Tirumala temple to hold 'trial run of darshan' with limited devotees

The Andhra Pradesh government has given nod to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) to conduct a trial run of 'darshan' at the Tirumala temple with TTD employees and local devotees.

On a request by the TTD, which manages the affairs of the world's richest Hindu temple, the state government accorded the permission with the concurrence of the department of health and family welfare.

In a memo issued by JSV Prasad, Special Chief Secretary to the state government, the TTD will hold a "trial run for TTD employees and local public of Tirumala, with limited number of people duly ensuring physical distance of 6 feet at all times and all points".

Andhra Secretariat employee tests positive, two blocks shut

An employee of Andhra Pradesh Secretariat has tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the authorities to shut down two blocks on Monday and advise 84 employees to work from home for next two weeks.

Employees working in blocks 3 and 4 were directed not to come to the secretariat and were instead advised to work from home for 14 days.

Health authorities took up disinfectant operations in the entire premises including the two blocks.

The infected Secretariat employee, who works in the Agriculture Department, had, along with many others, returned last week to Amaravati from Hyderabad, where they were stranded during the lockdown period.

AP procures record quantities of agri-produce

Despite the Covid-19 outbreak and the restrictions brought about by the nationwide lockdown since March 24, the Andhra Pradesh government has managed to procure record quantities of agricultural produce and help farmers of the state cope with the economic uncertainty.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Tuesday that Rs 1,100 crore was spent on procurements during the Covid-19 lockdown alone, which is half of the overall money spent during the last eight months

Tirumala temple to sell laddus at 50% discount

With uncertainty continuing as to when the darshan will resume, Sri Venkateswara temple authorities on Wednesday decided to sell 'Tirupati laddu Prasadam' or the sacred offering among devotees at 50 per cent discount across Andhra Pradesh and in state capitals of neighbouring states.

The laddu, weighing 175 grams, will be sold for ₹25, against its actual price of ₹50 in normal days.

Woman refuses entry to husband without Covid-19 test

The surging fears and stigma over coronavirus infection forced a woman in Andhra Pradesh to refuse entry to her husband in the house, till he underwent Covid-19 test.

The incident occurred in Venkatagiri in Nellore district when the man stuck in Nellore since the lockdown began finally returned to his hometown.

The man, working in a gold shop in Nellore, was stranded there since lockdown was enforced last month. He finally succeeded in reaching Venkatagiri on Wednesday. However, his wife asked him to first undergo the screening for coronavirus before entering the house.

See also:
Coronavirus cases in Telangana
Coronavirus cases in Gujarat
Coronavirus cases in Bihar
Coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh