PHOENIX — Arizona health officials are reporting the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a year.
Monday's 14,192 new cases were the most ever tallied in a day except for Jan. 3, 2021, when more than 17,000 cases were counted.
The state Health Services Department said the new case count was boosted by lower than normal counts on Sunday, when just 701 new cases were reported.
Recently released numbers from SonoraQuest, the state’s largest laboratory, show that 36% of diagnostic tests being processed by the company are coming back positive. This number was as low as 15% before the Christmas holiday.
The state did say there has been a steep upward trend of cases in recent days. The state reported no new deaths on Monday and just one on Sunday, bringing the total number of pandemic deaths to 24,355.