Louisiana governor reports spike in COVID-19 cases

Louisiana's governor says the confirmed number of coronavirus cases has spiked in the latest figures.

"Today at noon we reported the largest number of COVID-19 positive tests by far to date with 2,726 new cases," Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a news conference.

A backlog of tests results have poured in and confirmed Edwards' message that the virus's footprint across the state is much wider than limited testing has been able to document so far.

The data released Thursday by the Louisiana Department of Health showed nearly 9,200 people have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.

That's a jump of more than 2,700 confirmed cases from a day earlier and the largest single-day increase so far.

The governor says that reflects more testing and a break in the logjam of getting results.

"If there is good news for today's numbers, it's that the vast majority of those people who are COVID positive pursuant to today's report do not require hospitalization," Edwards said. "And they've already been told by their physicians that they were COVID positive and they've been in isolation for some time now."

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The vast majority of people recover.