Texas surpasses 4 million total COVID-19 cases

Texas surpassed 4 million coronavirus cases on Sunday, reaching the mark not quite 19 months after the state recorded its first confirmed case of the disease.

The state logged 5,264 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, including 4,531 that are confirmed, 494 that are probable and 239 older ones only recently reported to the state.

Texas’ case total is now 4,002,111, including 3,342,535 confirmed and 556,576 probable cases.

The state also reported 156 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, raising its toll to 62,942.

According to the state, 9,937 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas, including 2,855 in North Texas.

The first positive case of COVID-19 reported in Texas, outside of passengers returned under federal quarantine from Wuhan City, China, came on Mar. 4, 2020, according to the state health department.

Total cases hit the 1 million mark eight months later, on Nov. 5. And soon after that, on Nov. 13, Texas became the first state to pass 1 million confirmed cases.

The state topped 2 million total cases on Jan. 13, 2021, and crossed 3 million in July, according to state health department data.

Texas trails California for most coronavirus cases, according to data from The New York Times. California totals of about 4.7 million cases and 68,000 deaths Sunday. On a per-capita basis, the Times reports, Alaska leads the nation in most new daily cases over the last week, at 143 per 100,000 residents.

The U.S. is averaging the most newly reported deaths per day since surges of the disease in late February, but daily hospitalizations and new cases are starting to decline.