Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Tuesday by 1,420 -- the second-highest daily increase since February and the fourth one in the past two weeks that was in the quadruple digits.
After topping 200 a day earlier for the first time since March, the number of covid-19 patients in the state's hospitals rose by two, to 211.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Arkansas Department of Health, rose by six, to 11,574.
The increase in cases on Tuesday was larger by more than 1,000 than the one a day earlier and almost twice the size of the rise the previous Tuesday.
Except for a spike of 1,434 cases on Thursday, it was the largest one-day increase since Feb. 15, during the state's first wave of infections from the omicron variant.
After falling this spring to some of their lowest levels of the pandemic, Arkansas' new cases have been trending upward again since late April, at least in part because of new, more transmissible versions of the omicron variant.
According to estimates updated Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two strains known as BA.4 and BA.5 last week accounted for more than half the new cases in the country.
The nationwide percentage of new cases caused by the subvariants rose from 37.4% the week ending June 18 to 52.3% last week, according to the estimates.
Among the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's 10 regions, the estimated percentage of cases caused by BA.4 and BA.5 in recent weeks has been the highest in the one encompassing Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
In that region, the two subvariants were responsible for 59.7% of new cases last week, up from 44.9% a week earlier, according to the estimates.
CASES BY COUNTY
Within Arkansas, Pulaski County had the largest number of total new cases, 227, on Tuesday, followed by Washington County with 115 and Benton County with 88.
The state's cumulative count of cases since March 2020 rose to 862,823.
Growing for the second day in a row, the average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 931, its highest level since the week ending Feb. 23.
After dipping a day earlier, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 489, to 10,183, as new cases outnumbered recoveries. It was the largest active case total since Feb. 20.
After rising by three a day earlier, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators fell back down on Tuesday by three, to 10.
Growing for the second straight day, however, the number who were in intensive care rose by five, to 40, which was just under the recent high of 41 that the number reached a week earlier.
At its hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, Arkansas Children's had 12 covid-19 patients on Tuesday, up from eight a week earlier, spokeswoman Hilary DeMillo said.
Much of the data on the Health Department's online dashboard of coronavirus information wasn't updated until Tuesday evening, hours later than usual, with a disclaimer on the site saying the department was "experiencing technical difficulties."
Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said about 6 p.m. that all the information on the dashboard was correct except the vaccination data. The department was still working to update that data, she said.