In a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Andhra High Court has announced suspension of its functioning till Sunday.

According to a notification issued by the High Court registrar, Chief Justice JK Maheshwari directed the officials to suspend the functioning of HC till Sunday. The HC notification stated that the functioning of metropolitan sessions judge court in Vijayawada will also be suspended till Sunday.

The decision by the High Court comes a day after the death of Registrar-General B Rajasekhar (59), who died of cardiac arrest.

Registrar General of HC suffered a cardiac arrest on Wednesday and was declared brought dead at a private hospital in Vijayawada. On Wednesday, the functioning of the court was suspended after the Chief Justice and judges visited the hospital where he died.

According to reports, the Registrar General was tested positive for coronavirus following his death. Ten days earlier, he had tested negative for the virus. 

The HC has recently issued guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19. The HC has also asked its staff not to leave the headquarters without prior permission in view of the situation.

Thermal screening at the entry point of court premises is mandatory and persons without masks would not be allowed inside.

Meanwhile, as on Thursday evening, the state saw 553 fresh COVID-19 cases and as many as seven deaths besides 118 discharges. The state now has 5,760 active cases against a total of 10,884 cases with 4,998 discharges and 136 fatalities.