The Arkansas Department of Health on Wednesday reported that the number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus had risen by 30, to 241, the count's highest level since March 13.
The state's count of total cases rose by 1,332, the second consecutive daily increase to top 1,000 and the third-largest one-day spike since February.
The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Health Department, rose by six, to 11,580.
The jump in the number of Arkansans reported to be hospitalized was the largest in a single day since Jan. 26, during the state's first wave of infections from the omicron variant.
It was the fourth consecutive daily increase after the count of Arkansas' hospitalized patients fell to 185 on Saturday. The number of those patients who were in intensive care rose by eight, to 48, the largest number since March 23.
After falling by three a day earlier, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators rose Wednesday by two, to 12.
State Epidemiologist Mike Cima said one hospital with a growing number of covid-19 patients updated its numbers on Wednesday for the first time in several days, contributing to the abrupt rise in the statewide number.
Wednesday's increase of 1,332 covid cases was smaller than the spike of 1,434 cases on Thursday, as well as the 1,420 cases that were added Tuesday. The three largest daily increases since February have happened in the span of one week.
Wednesday's increase was also larger by more than 500 than the one the previous Wednesday.
The average daily increase in the state's covid-19 case count over a rolling seven-day period rose Wednesday to 1,005, the first time it had been over 1,000 since Feb. 21. In other words, more than 7,000 new coronavirus cases have been detected over the seven-day period.
Already at its highest level since Feb. 20, the number of cases in the state that were considered active grew by 481, to 10,664, as new cases outpaced recoveries.
Since the pandemic reached Arkansas in March 2020, the state Health Department has reported 864,155 cases of the coronavirus. Of those, 841,681 are considered recovered.