Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Thursday by 663, a smaller increase than the previous two days but still larger than the daily rise a week earlier.
The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas fell by one, to 145, after rising by double digits the previous three days.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by one, to 11,512.
Thursday's increase in cases was a decline after spikes of 805 new cases on Tuesday and 887 on Wednesday. However, it was larger by 28 than the increase in covid cases reported the previous Thursday.
Already at its highest level since the week ending March 24, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period grew to 573, meaning that Arkansas has recorded more than 4,000 new cases over the past week.
The number of covid cases in the state that were considered active rose by 322, to 5,883, as new cases outpaced recoveries. The number was already at its highest level since the more than 6,000 cases reported on Feb. 27.
After rising the previous two days, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators fell by one, to four.
The number of virus patients who were in intensive care, which rose by four a day earlier, fell Thursday by two, to 17.
Since the pandemic reached Arkansas in March 2020, the state Health Department has reported 848,474 cases of coronavirus. Of those, 830,849 are considered recovered.
More details in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.