Florida’s coronavirus cases continue to soar — with the state recording more than 5,000 new infections for the second day in a row Thursday.
The 5,004 cases of COVID-19 reported by the state’s health department marked the second-highest single-day total since the pandemic began, according to The Miami Herald.
The number of newly confirmed infections was 504 fewer than Wednesday’s record total of 5,508 — the highest number of cases tallied over a 24-hour span in the Sunshine State.
The state now has 114,018 confirmed cases.
Nearly 30 percent of those were recorded in the last 10 days, according to the outlet.
There were also 46 new fatalities tied to the virus announced Thursday, pushing the statewide death toll to 3,327.
State officials have blamed the increase in infections on a rise in testing. But public health experts have told the Herald that testing had flat-lined or even slowed in Florida.
The skyrocketing case count has prompted New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to issue a joint travel advisory that requires travelers from states “with significant community spread of COVID-19” — including Florida — to self-quarantine for 14 days.
There were more than 2.4 million coronavirus infections in the US as of Thursday, and at least 122,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University researchers.