COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Health reported 1,091 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours on Friday, continuing an increase that started late last month.
Recently reported cases brought the total to 55,257 known cases since the first three were confirmed on March 9.
The state reported a total of 2,903 deaths Friday, the same amount it reported Thursday. The health department said in a note posted on its website that “technical problems” with the reporting database that the state uses to track COVID-19 data resulted in the state reporting an incorrect number of deaths in Thursday’s report.
“We regret the inconvenience that these technical problems have caused,” the statement said.
A health department spokeswoman said the correct number of deaths reported Thursday should have been 2,886, an increase of 10 deaths since Wednesday. Another 17 deaths were reported on Friday.
Friday’s figures came after the state reported 1,301 new cases on Thursday, the third-highest total in a single day since two consecutive mass tests of inmates in state prisons ravaged by outbreaks of the virus.
The increase in cases is being driven by the large urban Ohio counties, with Hamilton and Montgomery counties in southwest Ohio registering the highest number of cases per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis by cleveland.com.
The state also reported Friday that 46 additional people have been hospitalized for the virus, bringing the total to 8,084. There have been a total of 2,044 admissions to the ICU.
Notification of deaths is often delayed by a week or more, rather than reflecting deaths in the past 24 hours.
The state reported that a total of 39,423 people have recovered from the virus, 436 more than the 38,987 recoveries reported Thursday.
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