New cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus continue to pile up across Mississippi, state health officials confirmed Tuesday, as staggering numbers of cases are pressuring the state’s hospital system.

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) officials reported Monday that 5,737 new coronavirus cases were found in the last 24 hours.

In the last two weeks, 73,510 cases have been officially logged, though the number is likely much higher due to at-home tests typically not being reported to the state health department.

To put the rapid spread in perspective,  in the last 14 days approximately 1 in every 40 Mississippians has tested positive for the virus. Cases found in the last two weeks now represent 12 percent of the total cases found since the pandemic began, nearly two years ago.

The additional cases reported Tuesday brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 608,768.

Although health experts say the new omicron variant tends to require less hospital care than previous variants, the massive number of new cases in this wave is still causing hospitalizations to grow rapidly.

Through Monday, 1,211 patients were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19, the state health department reported. By comparison at the beginning of December less than 200 COVID patients were hospitalized.

The rapid rise in hospitalizations caused the MSDH to reenact its COVID system of care that helps more quickly facilitate transfers of critical ill patients to hospitals across the state.

MSDH reported 20 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,563.

Through Monday, 49 percent of the total Mississippi population has been fully vaccinated. The number of fully vaccinated Mississippians remains below the U.S. average of 63 percent.

For more detailed county-by-county vaccination results visit: https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/resources/12130.pdf

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose Tuesday to 6,095.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose sharply to 5,251 with Tuesday’s update. It was another new all-time high.

Cumulative Cases and Deaths by County