Nevada reports 716 new coronavirus cases, 4 more deaths

Nevada health officials reported 716 more coronavirus cases and four additional deaths on Sunday.

That brings the number of coronavirus cases to 101,479 and fatalities to 1,781, according to data posted on the state Department of Health and Human Services’ website. The updated statistics came a day after the number of cases in the state surpassed 100,000.

The state’s positivity rate, which is calculated by the Review-Journal as the total cases divided by the number of people who have been tested since the start of the pandemic, rose by 0.02 percentage points on Sunday to 12.48 percent.

The rate has been slowly increasing since mid-September, when daily case reports also started rising.

The health department calculates a positivity rate over a two-week period, and it increased by 0.4 percentage points on Sunday to 11 percent, state data shows. Sunday was the highest rate recorded since the state began reporting it on Oct. 15.

The rate, used by the state, is calculated using total “testing encounters,” which produces lower percentages because the figure includes people who received multiple tests at different points during the pandemic.

In Clark County, the number of coronavirus cases rose by 604, according to updated data posted on the Southern Nevada Health District’s website. The total number of cases reached 82,966 on Sunday. Two deaths were also reported, bringing the total number of people in the county who have died from the virus to 1,517.

Contact Alex Chhith at achhith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0290. Follow @alexchhith on Twitter.