Arkansas has topped 3,000 new cases in a single day.
On Thursday, Dec. 17, the Arkansas Department of Health announced that there had been 3,039 new cases in the past 24 hours. Of these cases, 2,282 had been confirmed while 757 were probable.
This brings the state’s total number of cases, both confirmed and probable, to 194,543. There have been 165,512 confirmed cases total since the beginning of the pandemic and 29,031 probable cases.
Currently, there are 21,659 active cases in Arkansas. There was an increase of 885 active cases compared to yesterday’s total. The Department of Health reported that 584 active cases were confirmed and 301 were probable.
“The 3,039 new cases today is a milestone we did not want to reach. With over 17,000 COVID-19 test results over the past 24 hours, we see our testing continues to increase and identify cases. If we isolate and quarantine as needed, then the identifying of cases will help control the spread. We continue to work on vaccine distribution, but we have to focus on distancing and wearing our mask to slow this virus down,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement.
Thirty-eight deaths were also reported on Thursday, bringing the state’s total to 3,112. Of the new deaths, 30 were confirmed and eight were probable deaths due to COVID-19.
Globally, there have been 74,728,558 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic’s beginning, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States is the worldwide leader in cases with 17,163,944 cases reported, as of Thursday afternoon. This accounts for approximately 23 percent of the world wide total.
The countries with the closest case counts to the United States’ are India and Brazil with 9,956,557 and 7,040,608, respectively. Russia and France are currently the only other countries that have reported case counts above 2 million.
The United States also has the largest death toll. There have been 310,095 reported deaths that have been attributed to COVID-19 in the United States. Across the globe, there have been 1,658,290. The United States’ death toll is approximately 19 percent of the worldwide total.
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