: With the number of COVID-19
cases in Andhra Pradesh crossing the 700 mark and the toll from the contagion touching 20, the state government on Monday hinted at a possible community transmission of the pandemic.
Deputy Chief Minister (Health) A K K Srinivas said the emergence of 75 new cases in a day "indicates that."
"..it is now community transmission happening in the state. That 75 new cases registered in a day indicates that," Srinivas told a press conference here but did not elaborate.
He claimed the state was implementing the best and effective containment strategy that were yielding results.
Asked about the spurt in COVID-19 positive cases, the Deputy chief minister attributed it to increased testing.
The number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state stood at 722 as on Monday.
"We tested over 3,770 samples in the last 24 hours and hence there were 75 positive cases. In the coming days, we will ramp up our testing capacity to 12,500 per day," he said, indicating that the number of cases could proportionately go up.
In Chittoor district, 25 new cases were reported since Sunday morning and 24 of them were from the temple-town of Srikalahasthi alone. Eight of the 24 were frontline government staff, including a woman sub-inspector of police.
Vijayawada has also been witnessing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases and at least two major pockets in the city were identified as possible community transmission spots.
More than 20 cases have been recorded in these two localities alone in the last few days, leaving the authorities baffled about the source of transmission.
Officials also expressed fears of a possible community transmission.
"Till yesterday there were over 40 cases cases due to (possible) community transmission and today the number has gone up by another 25.
We are collecting pooled samples in such places to determine the exact spread of the pandemic," a top health official said.
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