Missouri reports record number of new COVID-19 cases, number of hospitalized patients in St. Louis area increases slightly

ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 773 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, the state's largest single-day increase.

On Tuesday, the state reported a total of 24,629 cases and 1,042 deaths, an increase of 773 cases and 14 deaths over Monday's totals.

The record increase on Tuesday came after three days of slightly lower increases over the holiday weekend.

The single-day increases over the last week were:

• July 6: 420
• July 5: 221
• July 4: 385
• July 3: 547
• July 2: 356
• July 1: 376
• June 30: 508

The state also reported 8,603 new PCR tests Tuesday. It was the fourth time the state has reported more than 8,000 PCR tests in a single day.

PCR tests look for active infection in people. The state had previously included PCR and antibody testing in one figure but changed in late May.

The state's positivity rate increased from 5.59% to 5.66% as a result of the increases Tuesday. The positivity rate chart below is for the days since the state changed the way it reported testing numbers.

RELATED: COVID-19 positivity rates are down in Missouri and Illinois, but not for everyone

In the St. Louis area, the number of COVID-19 patients increased from 167 to 177 Monday as the seven-day average continued to trend upward, numbers reported by the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force.

On Monday, task force leader Dr. Alex Garza said the increase in cases was to be expected with the loosening of restrictions.

RELATED: St. Louis pandemic task force says loosening of restrictions has led to expected increase in COVID-19 cases

The number of new COVID-19 patients admitted to area hospitals increased slightly, but the seven-day average decreased slightly. 

Here is the full break down of data from the task force:

• New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased — from 14 Monday to 19 Tuesday.
• The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased — from 21 Monday to 20 Tuesday.
• The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased — from 156 Monday to 161 Tuesday.
• Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased — from 167 Monday to 177 Tuesday.
• Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased — from 106 Monday to 138 Tuesday.
• The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased — from 40 Monday to 41 Tuesday.
• The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased — from 23 Monday to 21 Tuesday.
• Across the system hospitals, 22 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 3,024.

Statewide, hospitalizations decreased on July 4, the most recent day reported by the state. The data is lagged three days to ensure accuracy. 

The number of hospitalizations from July 4 was lower than the previous day, but higher than this time last week. The hospitalization numbers have trended up in the last week, including on July 2, when the state reported 800 hospitalizations for the first time since May 14.

For a full county-by-county breakdown of cases in the state, use our interactive map. Some of the local county numbers come from local health departments and may not match data from the DHSS.