Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh registered 96 new Covid cases on Friday, increasing the state's tally over 8.89 lakh, even as 71 more persons recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours.

Chittoor district reported the highest number of cases at 22, followed by Guntur (17), Krishna and Nellore (9 each), East Godavari (7), Kadapa and Anantapur (6 each).

Among other places, Visakhapatnam (5), Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and West Godavari (4 each) and Kurnool (3).

However, no infection was recorded in Prakasam district in the past 24 hours while Chittoor has been logging the highest number of cases for some days already.

East Godavari's tally crossed 1.24 lakh, the highest among all Andhra districts, while the state's positivity rate fell to 6.41 per cent, which is still higher than the national average of 5.15 per cent.

Surprisingly, the state's active coronavirus cases climbed back over 600 to reach 635.

Meanwhile, one more fatality occurred due to the virus in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of deaths to 7,169.

With 71 more recoveries, total recoveries crossed 8.81 lakh in the southern state.

With as many as 34,778 more tests, total Covid tests in Andhra Pradesh crossed 1.38 crore mark.