State officials reported Friday that 739 cases of covid-19 were diagnosed, down 154 from Thursday's new-case total and down 118 from the previous Friday. It was the fewest cases diagnosed on a Friday since the 635 total cases diagnosed on July 2.
The lower number of new cases meant that Arkansas' active covid-19 cases continued to fall Friday, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. The state's hospitalizations fell by 30 to 563, the lowest tally since July 11.
"The current trend continues as active cases have fallen over the past several weeks, but we continue to see hundreds of new cases each day," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on social media. "Getting vaccinated is the best way we can limit the impact of COVID-19 and reduce the disruption of quarantines."
The cumulative total of cases since March 2020 rose to 501,518, according to the Health Department. Of those, 485,913 are considered recovered.
The state's death toll from the virus since March 2020, as tracked by the Health Department, rose by eight, to 7,810.
The number of virus patients who were on ventilators rose by two to 175, and the number in intensive care fell by 13 to 267.
The number of cases in the state that were considered active fell for the 27th consecutive day, meaning that for almost four weeks, more people have recovered from the disease each day than have been diagnosed with it. The count fell by 23, to 7,667.
More details in Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.