Indiana health officials reported 6,844 new coronavirus cases Sunday, along with 22 additional deaths attributed to the virus.
The state has now reported a total of 251,597 cases since the pandemic began, with a surge in new cases in recent weeks. The state has also reported 4,660 fatalities related to the coronavirus during the pandemic.
Indiana’s positivity rate has still continued to climb, with the seven-day positivity rate on all tests currently sitting at 11.3%. When calculated by the percentage of individual residents who have tested positive, that rate reached 21.9% over the last seven days.
A total of 53,776 tests were administered in the last 24 hours, with 21,719 individuals tested during that time. Overall, the state has administered 3,536,082 tests during the pandemic so far.
Hospitalizations in the state have also continued to spike in recent weeks, hitting another record high, as 2,168 patients are currently hospitalized with coronavirus or coronavirus-like illnesses, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Approximately 33.8% of the state’s intensive care unit beds are currently in use by coronavirus patients, while 8% of the state’s ventilators are in use by COVID-19 patients. Data showed 25.5% of ICU beds remain available.
Last week, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced plans to bring back some restrictions following several weeks of sharp increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.
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Saturday's daily case total marked the fourth daily record last week, topping Thursday's high of 6,654.
"We are in the midst of a second surge," Holcomb said.
Holcomb's recent executive order starting began Saturday and limits crowd sizes to 20 people in the highest-risk red counties, along with 50 people in the next-riskiest orange counties. The new order also limits capacity at K-12 sports and extracurricular events.
Holcomb said he was also extending the statewide mask mandate for another month.
