Indiana set a new record for the number of coronavirus cases confirmed in a single day on Thursday, reporting 8,527 new cases and 60 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
The new cases reported Thursday marked only the second time the state has seen more than 8,000 cases in a single day, the first being on Nov. 14 when 8,451 new cases were confirmed, which set a record for daily new cases for the fourth time that week, which remained in place until Thursday.
Thursday's new cases brought the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 359,430 since the pandemic began, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Thursday's 60 deaths brought the statewide death toll to 5,748, officials said, two days after Indiana set a record for highest daily death toll of the pandemic for the fourth time in less than a month, seeing 142 deaths in a 24-hour period on Tuesday.
A total of 60,742 tests were administered on 21,089 individuals in the last 24 hours, a marked increase from the day before, ISDH said Thursday. That figure brought the total number of tests conducted in the state to 4,402,956.
The state’s seven-day positivity rate on all tests conducted increased again to 11.4% on Thursday, up from 11% the day before. The positivity rate on residents tested also jumped to 23.7% from 22.2% Wednesday, up from 21.6% on Tuesday and 21.1% on Monday.
The state’s number of hospitalizations decreased slightly again on Thursday for the second day in a row, down from the record high reported Tuesday. As of Thursday, a total of 3,362 people were hospitalized statewide. Of those, 2,906 are confirmed as COVID-19 cases, while another 456 are exhibiting COVID-like symptoms and awaiting test results.
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Currently, 45.2% of the state’s ICU beds are in use by COVID-19 patients, with 20.5% of ICU beds currently available. About 14.3% of ventilators are in use by coronavirus patients, health officials say, with 69.7% available statewide.
