As new COVID-19 coronavirus cases have soared in the last week, the number of Mississippians hospitalized with the virus is also climbing higher, state health officials reported Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 940 patients were hospitalized with test-confirmed COVID-19. That number has more than quadrupled in the last 30 days when on December 6, only 197 people in Mississippi were hospitalized with COVID-19.

A staggering 36,036 new cases of the virus have been found so far in January.

The majority of those cases are believed to be of the newer omicron variant which is believed to be somewhat milder for some people than past variants, the massive numbers of cases being found all across the country have caused health officials to raise alarms about the impact on hospitals and the health care system.

Mississippi’s record for COVID-19 hospitalizations was set on August 19, 2021, when 1,667 COVID patients filled Mississippi hospital beds.

Through Wednesday, the state’s online system indicated that only 52 ICU beds were available out of 820 total ICU beds.

COVID patients accounted for approximately 22 percent of the ICU beds that were occupied.