LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The omicron surge of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to drive up numbers in the state of Arkansas Wednesday, setting new records for the number of new cases and active cases of the virus.

According to data from the Arkansas Department of Health, there were 7,488 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the pandemic total to 588,622.

The active case count also saw another massive increase, climbing by 5,874 to 38,154, which is more than 10,000 cases higher than the peak during the post-holiday surge last year.

These increases are a stark difference to the situation in Arkansas just a month ago. Comparing the data released Wednesday to the data from December 5, 2021, new cases are up 1,855% and active cases are up 405%

The number of deaths from the virus climbed by eight to 9.256 in the Wednesday report.

Hospitalizations continue to show surging increases, going up by 44 cases to 819 patients currently being treated around the state. The last time the state had more than 800 COVID-19 patients was the end of September.

The number of patients in ICU care only saw a slight uptick, moving up eight to 257, while the number of patients on ventilators climbed by 10 to 128.

The state saw 9,136 new vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours. The number of fully immunized patients rose to 1,511,587, while there are 358,525 Arkansans with partial immunity.