Georgia’s death toll surpasses 11,000 as coronavirus cases surge

Dr. Lynn Paxton (left), District Health Director of  the Fulton County Board of Health, gives a Pfizer vaccine to Karen Schaefer at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday.  Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com”

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com

Dr. Lynn Paxton (left), District Health Director of the Fulton County Board of Health, gives a Pfizer vaccine to Karen Schaefer at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday. Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com”

Georgia’s COVID-19 death toll passed 11,000 on Saturday, a worrying sign that infections are surging across the state as public health officials work to vaccinate first responders and older residents.

The number of daily infections and deaths continues to rise at an alarming rate, with nearly 1,000 new confirmed deaths reported in just the past 10 days, according to figures from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

On Saturday, the DPH reported more than 6,950 new coronavirus cases, 154 more deaths and 307 new hospitalizations. Since the pandemic began, the state has recorded nearly 675,000 coronavirus cases, more than 46,500 hospitalizations and 11,029 deaths.

Georgia Coronavirus: Complete Coverage

It took Georgia about a month to go from 9,000 confirmed deaths in December to 10,000 on Jan. 6.

A look at major COVID-19 developments over the past week

Statewide, nine out of 10 ICU beds are full, and nearly half of those patients have COVID-19, according to state and federal hospital records. Grady Memorial Hospital, the safety-net hospital, is full as it treats more coronavirus patients than ever before.

On Friday, the number of coronavirus deaths surpassed 2 million globally, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, which has tracked such data since the pandemic began.

The U.S. leads the world with 23.6 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 393,000 deaths. India, which has over a billion more people, ranks second in terms of confirmed cases with 10.5 million.

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