This is how Florida hospitals report current COVID-19 hospitalizations

Florida broke the national record on Sunday for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the start of the pandemic, adding more than 15,000 cases.

According to statistics from the state Department of Health, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded.

RELATED: Central Florida’s largest hospitals are out of ICU beds, but say they can expand if demand for COVID-19 increases

The numbers come to the end of a bleak and record week as Florida reported 514 deaths, an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state averaged 30 deaths per day. Since the pandemic began in March, 4,346 people have died in Florida of COVID-19, the state says.

According to the AHCA database, as of Friday night, there are 7,507 coronavirus patients in hospitals across the state. According to DOH, 18,271 have received hospital care due to the virus.

Data shows that Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have the highest number of current COVID-19 patients.

In Central Florida, Orange County has 542 patients, Osceola has 206, according to AHCA numbers.

Some hospital systems say they have the ability to add beds if necessary.

Since the Florida Department of Health began reporting coronavirus cases on March 1, the state has included the overall total of hospitalizations, but not the current number.

See the breakdown below, including how many hospital and intensive care beds are available by county and center:

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The tests have doubled in the past month, from about 25,000 tests per day to nearly 50,000, but the percentage of people who tested positive has increased even more dramatically. A month ago, less than 5% of tests tested positive on a daily average. During the past week, the daily average exceeded 19%.

Governor Ron DeSantis said that even with the rate hike, he still wants schools to reopen on schedule next month, saying children have not been shown to be vectors of the disease in states and countries where campuses are open. He said that while each county will have to propose procedures, depending on their local infection rate, not opening schools would exacerbate the achievement gap between high- and low-achieving students.

Throughout May and through June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions, and the number of positive cases began to increase, but it was not until the last week that total daily deaths also began to increase.

Due to the increase in cases and the positivity rate, doctors have predicted an increase in deaths, saying that the death rate generally increases two to four weeks later as some of the infected become ill and eventually die. Health experts are concerned that people are congregating and have voiced concerns that the Republican National Convention nomination party for President Donald Trump will be held in Jacksonville in August.