Indiana's confirmed, presumed virus death toll nears 1,500

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An additional 43 Indiana residents are confirmed or presumed to have died from the coronavirus, pushing Indiana's death toll from COVID-19 to nearly 1,500, state health officials announced Saturday.

A total of 1,362 Hoosiers have been confirmed to have died from COVID-19, 34 more than on Friday, the Indiana State Department of Health said. The state agency also increased the number of reported probable COVID-19 deaths by nine to 128. Those are deaths that state officials said doctors blame on coronavirus infections without confirmation of the illness from test results.

The updated figures bring Indiana's confirmed or presumed number of deaths to 1,490 for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.

Testing shows an additional 606 Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, bringing the total number of Indiana residents known to have the disease to 23,732, following corrections to Friday's total, the department said.

The state agency also announced Saturday that four drive-through testing clinics will begin operating next week, adding to Indiana's effort to expand testing around the state.

The new drive-through clinics will operate between May 14 and May 17 in Bluffton and Gary in northern Indiana, the western Indiana city of Sullivan and in Madison in southern Indiana. The state agency's full list of testing sites around the state can be found at www.coronavirus.in.gov.