More than one-quarter million Mississippians have contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus since the pandemic began last March, the state reported Saturday.

The Mississippi State Health Department reported 70 new deaths on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 5,481. In the first 16 days of January 696 deaths have been reported, making it third on the list of most COVID deaths reported since the pandemic began. In December, 982 deaths were reported. In August, 813 were 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.

The state reported Saturday 2,680 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 250,869.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases dropped to 2,000 on Saturday.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases rose to 2,185 with Saturday’s update.

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 198,888 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.