SC COVID-19 cases rise again over the weekend, topping last week’s high numbers

South Carolina recorded 1,794 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 605 probable cases, according to data released by the State Department of Health and Environmental Control. This rise in infections coincides with an increasing number of COVID-related hospitalizations across the state.

One new confirmed death also was reported. The data collected Saturday was reported on Monday.

Out of 15,706 COVID tests conducted, 15.1% came back positive, up more than two percentage points from the percent positive recorded on Wednesday, the last day the numbers were updated. Percent positive refers to the number of positive COVID-19 tests in relation to all COVID-19 tests conducted. This percentage indicated 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 state health officials. 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 510,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Carolina since the start of the pandemic and more than 623,000 cases in all. DHEC provides updated COVID-19 data Monday through Friday at 1 p.m.

This story was originally published August 2, 2021 at 2:43 PM with the headline "SC COVID-19 cases rise again over the weekend, topping last week’s high numbers."