Mississippi’s battle with the rapidly spreading COVID-19 coronavirus continued at near-record levels Friday.

The Mississippi State Health Department reported Friday 2,175 new cases were found in the last 24 hours. That brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 233,665.

The pace at which new cases is being detected is higher than in December, Mississippi’s worst month for new cases. December had more than 62,500 cases reported. January’s pace, if it continued, would cause the total cases to approach 70,000.

In addition, the state reported another 40 new deaths on Friday, bringing the total death toll to 5,101. In the first eight days of January 314 deaths have been reported.

Because some deaths reported on a given day or in a given month may have occurred earlier, not all of the deaths reported Friday occurred in the last 24 hours.

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 182,103 cases 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.

The high number of new cases over the last several weeks has put pressure on the state’s hospital system.

Through Wednesday’s statistics, Mississippi’s total ICU capacity was operating at 93-percent full. Of the occupied ICU beds, approximately 44 percent were filled by COVID-19 patients.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases dipped to 2,183 on Friday.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose to 2,106 with Friday’s update.