Twelve days into December, Mississippi’s COVID-19 coronavirus case spread is rising quickly as case numbers and ultimately deaths are piling up at a record pace.

Mississippi again reported near-record numbers of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases on Saturday morning with both the 7-day and the 14-day average of new cases marking record highs again.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 2,665 new cases on Saturday. It was the fourth-straight day the state reported more than 2,000 cases each day. The latest numbers bring the total cases since the pandemic began in March to 177,947.

More than 29,500 new cases have been confirmed in the last 14 days. New cases confirmed in Mississippi during the last 14 days already eclipse every month of the pandemic except July and November.

Here’s a monthly new case breakdown:

Month	New cases
June	11,746
July	31,496
August	24,203
September	15,240
October	21,970
November	33,111
December (month to date)	24,677

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 136,627 have recovered and while many people who are infected with the virus may only have moderate or even no visible symptoms, others can get gravely ill and can die as a result.

Through Wednesday’s statistics, the state reported 1,166 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized with another 120 suspected, but not confirmed by test yet COVID patients also hospitalized.

The state reported 56 new deaths Saturday. A total of 4,180 Mississippians have died from the virus, the state reported.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose to 2,347 with Saturday’s update.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose to 2,111 on Saturday, breaking the previous record set the day prior.