A 24-year-old woman who had tested positive for the coronavirus earlier on Tuesday gave birth to a healthy baby at the Government Maternity Hospital in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. She was nine months pregnant when she was diagnosed as having COVID-19.
The baby was delivered through a C-section surgery and authorities at the hospital said that it would be tested for the coronavirus in a few days.
Doctors who performed the surgery ensured that they did so while wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and took additional care to ensure zero contact between mother and child. The child was shifted to a special isolation unit, according to reports.
Other reports stated that the doctors who performed the surgery were quarantined as per protocol.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 136 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the state's cumulative tally of local cases to 4,126. With this, the number of active local cases climbed to 1,573.
One death in East Godavari district during the day raised the COVID-19 toll to 78.
As per the government figures issued on Monday, Andhra Pradesh's mortality rate has fallen to 1.56% from 1.64% on Sunday. In terms of mortality rate, the state ranks 10th in India, according to government data. The national mortality rate is at 2.78%.
During the day, 72 people were discharged from hospitals, taking the cumulative tally of cured persons to 2,475.
The state's recovery rate dropped to 56.33% on Monday and it ranks sixth in the country. The national recovery rate stood at 48.36% on Monday.
The state is conducting over 10,000 tests on an average each day. Against Tuesday's 15,085 tests, 15,384 tests were conducted in a 24-hour period ending 9 am, the state nodal officer reported.
Andhra Pradesh had tested 4,69,276 samples till Monday, lagging only behind Rajasthan (5,06,784), Maharashtra (5,53,063) and Tamil Nadu (5,92,970). Till Monday, 47,74,434 tests were conducted across the country.
Meanwhile, the cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases among returnees from other states rose to 933, taking the state's total tally to 5,247.
Vijayawada city is growing into a hotbed of coronavirus with as many as 42 of the 64 civic wards classified as containment zones. With this, there is no relief to the citizens from the lockdown as Krishna district Collector A Md Imtiyaz issued an order stating that all restrictions would be in place till further orders.
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With IANS and PTI inputs