COVINGTON, Ga. — Georgia has more than doubled its number of COVID-19 cases in just four days, the state announced Friday.

The Georgia Department of Public Health released a daily status report Friday, March 27, at noon announcing the state had 2,001 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 64 deaths. The DPH released another update at 7 p.m. Friday stating there are now 2,198 confirmed cases and 65 deaths. That's a notable jump from Monday at noon, when DPH reported 772 confirmed cases and 25 deaths in the state.

State officials said the significant increase in cases this week is in part a reflection of an improvement in electronic reporting efficiency from commercial laboratories, which often have sparse patient data.

DPH is working to complete the records.

Out of 9,865 total tests, 1,746 were conducted at the DPH lab with 265 patients testing positive. At commercial labs, 8,119 tests have produced 1,933 positive cases.

According to the state, 56% of confirmed cases are patients ages 18 to 59, while 34% are 60 or older. Patients 17 and younger comprise 1% of the confirmed cases and 0% are currently unknown.

This week, the DPH also began tracking the number of hospitalizations that are a direct result of the novel virus. As of 7 p.m. Friday, 607 people had been hospitalized. That number jumped from 566 at noon Friday.

Gwinnett continues to have the most confirmed cases of the surrounding counties with 121. Henry is now up to 44 confirmed cases, followed by Rockdale with 16, Butts with three, Jasper with two and Morgan with one. 

Walton previously had one reported positive diagnosis but it has since been corrected to show none.

Fulton County, the location of the first confirmed case in Georgia, continues to have the most confirmed cases with 347. Dekalb (219) has now passed Dougherty (203) for the second-most cases in the state.Cobb (163), Gwinnett (121) and Bartow (107) are all over 100 confirmed cases as well. As of 7 p.m. Friday, 207 cases in Georgia were still unknown.