Indiana sees another big jump in new COVID-19 infections

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana health officials reported nearly 8,500 newly confirmed COVID-19 infections on Saturday, a new single-day high that is 28% more than the previous high set two days earlier.

The soaring number of infections come as most of the state will fall under a new governor's order beginning Sunday reinstating limits on crowd sizes after weeks of steep increases in coronavirus-related deaths and hospitalizations.

The state health department on Saturday also recorded 25 more COVID-19 deaths, pushing the state's total fatalities since March to 4,888, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections.

The 8,451 new infections reported Saturday blew past the some 6,600 that state health officials announced Thursday in what was the first time daily reported infections had topped 6,000. The state's moving seven-day average of new infections is nearly seven times higher than in September when Gov. Eric Holcomb lifted nearly all business and crowd size restrictions.

Indiana hospitals were treating 2,634 COVID-19 patients as of Friday, the most at any point during the pandemic and a 250% increase since late September.

Holcomb's new order limits crowd sizes to 25 people in the highest-risk red counties under the state's assessment map and 50 people in the next-riskiest orange counties, with larger events needing approval from health officials. The state health department's latest assessment places 87 of the state's 92 counties in those categories.