LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant led to a second straight day of record-breaking numbers of new cases and a tenth-straight day of breaking the active case record.

In data reported by the Arkansas Department of Health, the number of new cases climbed by 12,990 to 653,789 for the pandemic total. Active cases shot up by 8,212 to now stand at 79,346.

The number of hospitalizations reported by the ADH saw its second significant jump this week, climbing by 66 to 1,251. This marks the first time since September 8, 2021, that hospitalizations have crossed the 1,200-mark, and the current COVID-19 patient load is up 145% in just one month.

The number of patients in ICU care climbed by four to 351, while the patients on ventilators went up by three to sit at 170.

There were also 18 more deaths added in Arkansas, moving the state’s pandemic total to 9,390.

Vaccination efforts continued to be focused on booster doses, with 9,125 total doses being administered in the last day and 4,278 people getting a third dose.

There are currently 1,523,696 people in Arkansas fully immunized from the virus, with another 367,272 having partial immunity.