At least 14 more patients succumbed to the viral infection in a span of 24 hours in South Coastal Andhra. However, there was some respite as fresh cases came down to 2,036 in the region on Tuesday.
The toll rose to 1,443 in the region with nine patients in Prakasam district and five in SPSR Nellore district dying due to COVID-19.
A person with black fungus infection from Prakasam district was among those deceased. He died while undergoing treatment in a private hospital near Vijayawada.
The coronavirus case tally inched closer to the two lakh-mark as 1,251 persons in SPSR Nellore district and 785 in Prakasam tested positive for the disease, according to a health bulletin released by the State government.
Over 1,600 patients, including 1,145 in SPSR Nellore, posted recovery. Active cases continued to be high at 39,290 with SPSR Nellore district accounting for 18,745 cases and Prakasam district for 20,545.
Situation reviewed
In Nellore, Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, who is also in-charge of SPSR Nellore, reviewed the health situation along with Ministers M. Goutham Reddy and P. Anil Kumar Yadav.
Giving details about the measures taken to address the oxygen shortage, Mr. Goutham Reddy said four oxygen plants with 400 tonnes production capacity would come into operation shortly.
YSR Congress MLAs K. Sanjeeviah, V. Varaprasad Rao and Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy highlighted the patients’ suffering due to inadequate oxygen beds and shortage of health professionals in the public health centres in their constituencies.
“Patients in Sullurpeta are scrambling to find beds in Tirupati and Nellore and some of them die before they could get one,” lamented Mr. Sanjaiah, the ruling party MLA from Sullurpeta.
The hospitals in Kavali lacked health professionals to monitor patients requiring oxygen therapy, complained the legislator, Mr. Pratap kumar Reddy. Two of the three urban PHCs in his Gudur Assembly constituency had inadequate health professionals, added the MLA from Gudur Varaprasada Rao.