After days of delays due to computer software problems, the Mississippi State Health Department officially released the last five days of COVID-19 coronavirus cases Monday afternoon.

Mississippi reported an additional 1,646 new cases were confirmed in the last five days, from June 17-June 21, the state reported, bringing the total cases to 22,287. The state estimates more than 17,000 of those cases have fully recovered.

The state announced 40 new deaths attributed to the virus bringing the total death toll to 978.

The state reported that two of the deaths reported Monday actually occurred between May 25 and June 7, but were late due to reporting delays.

Of the total deaths, the state reports 488 or 50% of the total were patients at long-term care facilities.

Mississippi’s 7-day average of new cases rose to 355 per day. The record high of the 7-day average of new cases is 363 and was set on June 18. The current 7-day daily new case average is more than 100 new cases daily more than the average on May 1.

The 14-day average of daily new cases rose Monday to 323 cases per day. The 14-day, daily average record was 336 set on June 21.

Editor’s note: Since the Mississippi Department of Health released data for several days lumped together, we simply divided the days evenly to achieve the averages.