Confirmed daily COVID cases in SC top 2,000 for the first time in 5 months

South Carolina recorded 1,392 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 811 probable cases, according to data released by DHEC, the state’s health agency. With more than 2,000 cases, this is the highest single-day case count since Feb. 18, topping the five-month high recorded on Tuesday.

The data also reported two confirmed deaths. These Wednesday numbers were reported on Friday.

The percent positive of the 14,761 COVID tests conducted was 12.5%, down from the percent positive recorded on Tuesday. Percent positive refers to the number of positive COVID-19 tests in relation to all COVID-19 tests conducted. This percentage is still indicative of a very high risk of transmission, according to CDC indicators.

The highly contagious delta variant is likely responsible for the majority of COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. The exact number of delta cases is unknown since only a fraction of confirmed cases undergo genome sequencing, the process used to determine the variant.

There have been more than 505,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina since the start of the pandemic and more than 617,000 cases in all. DHEC provides updated COVID-19 data Monday through Friday at 1 p.m.

This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Confirmed daily COVID cases in SC top 2,000 for the first time in 5 months."