TALLAHASSEE – Florida totaled nearly 400,000 new COVID-19 cases during the week that ended Thursday, as the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus raced through the state, according to a Department of Health report issued Friday.
The 397,114 cases during the week continued a dramatic increase that began in mid-December. In all, Florida has totaled 823,153 new cases during the past three weeks, the report showed.
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During the three preceding weeks, Florida totaled 53,840 new cases.
Notably, a total of 76,887 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Florida on Thursday alone, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. It’s a new one-day record for new cases in the state — slightly higher than the previous one when 75,732 cases were reported on Dec. 30.
In Northeast Florida, Duval County added the most infections to the DOH’s weekly caseload -- 14,370, according to the state. Alachua County reported 3,789 cases, followed by St. Johns with 3,126 cases and Clay with 2,471.
As of Thursday, the state had a reported total of 4.56 million cases and 62,688 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic started in early 2020.