Arizona reports 345 more COVID-19 cases but cites data issue

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A healthcare worker performs a COVID-19 test at a drive-thru testing center Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, in Phoenix. Arizona (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Arizona on Tuesday reported 345 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 more deaths, but officials said some additional cases weren’t included because of a problem with electronic reporting of data.

The Department of Health Services said the problem “likely will result in a higher number of new cases” in Wednesday’s update on the state coronavirus dashboard.

The additional figures reported Tuesday increased Arizona’s pandemic totals to 901,906 cases and 18,055 deaths.

The 345 additional cases reported by the state are well below Arizona’s recent seven-day rolling average of new daily cases.

The rolling average of daily new cases increased over the past two weeks from 492.7 on June 27 to 650.1 on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Arizona also is seeing an uptick in COVID-19-related hospitalizations, which since early May generally ranged between 500 and 600.

According to the state’s dashboard, there were 643 virus patients occupying hospital beds on Wednesday, the most since 666 on May 6.

Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.