ELURU: Two prison inmates infected with COVID-19 have escaped from the Eluru CRR COVID-care centre in the wee hours of Saturday, July 25.

It is said that 13 prisoners from West Godavari jail, who were infected with the dreaded COVID-19 virus were admitted to the Eluru COVID care centre. Taking advantage of this, the two prisoners have escaped from the centre.

The two prisoners are accused in several theft cases.

Police have launched efforts to nab the prisoners after they were informed by the COVID care staff.

District Superintendent of Police, Narayana Naik, has inspected the COVID care centre. Speaking to the media, he said that the two absconding prisoners were accused in theft cases and will be nabbed immediately. Special teams were formed to nab the two prisoners, he said.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh has reported 8,147 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 77,963 on Friday, July 24. As many as 49 fatalities related to COVID-19 were registered in the state in the last 24 hours. This takes the death toll 933 across the state.

According to the state's health bulletin on Friday, in the last 24 hours, a total of 48,114 samples were tested. Out of this, 8,147 tested positive for the virus in the state. A total of 15,41,993 samples have been tested so far in the state.