
Health officials in Indiana reported Thursday more than 900 new cases of coronavirus over the last 24 hours, along with 17 additional deaths, one day after the governor announced the state would lift many restrictions.
According to the latest figures released by the Indiana State Department of Health, 920 new cases of the virus were diagnosed after tests were performed on 9,021 new individuals in the last day.
In all, 114,236 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the state of Indiana since the pandemic began.
Thursday's 17 additional fatalities bring the state’s total number of deaths related to COVID-19 to 3,322.
Over the last seven days, the state’s rolling positivity rate on all tests remained at 3.9%. The positivity rate for individuals tested for the virus also stayed at 6.6% from the day before, according to officials.
In all, 1,997,499 coronavirus tests have been administered during the pandemic, with more than 1.3 million individuals tested as of Thursday.
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 increased slightly, with 39.4% of ICU beds available. More than 81% of ventilators were available statewide, officials said.
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The latest figures came one day after Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb announced that the state would move to phase five, the final phase, of its reopening plan.
Holcomb said that means the state will drop most limits on businesses and crowd sizes as of Saturday. The order requiring the use of face coverings will be extended until Oct. 17.
Holcomb said restrictions could be removed because the state has seen progress in recent weeks in slowing the coronavirus spread. His action lifts statewide capacity limits for restaurants and bars and crowd limits for social events.