Mississippi’s pace of new COVID-19 coronavirus cases jumped dramatically Saturday making new record highs as the state reported more than 3,000 new cases in the last 24 hours.

The Mississippi State Health Department reported Saturday 3,203 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 236,868.

In the last 14 days almost 32,000 new cases have been found in Mississippi, more than all but two complete months of the pandemic — July and December.

The pace at which new cases is being detected in January 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 top 70,000.

In addition, the state reported another 46 new deaths on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 5,146. In the first nine days of January 360 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 Saturday 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 jumped to 2,370 on Saturday, a new all-time high.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases jumped to 2,275 with Saturday’s update, also a new all-time high.