DEATH TOLL in state Saturday lowest of year.

Saturday saw the lowest single-day death toll from covid-19 in Arkansas this year — with the exception of a day in which the state reclassified 174 coronavirus deaths because of a “data clean-up” — according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

The department reported two coronavirus deaths, raising the state’s official covid-19 death toll since March 2020 to 5,641.

Some deaths were reclassified on Feb. 28, so the state reported fewer deaths, and the official death toll fell from 5,417 to 5,243. The actual number of covid-related deaths in the 24-hour period ending on the afternoon of Feb. 28 is unknown.

The Health Department reported 217 new covid-19 cases Saturday, for a total of 330,970 cases since March 2020. Active cases were up by 63, at 1,747.

Coronavirus hospitalizations in Arkansas have fallen. Saturday’s count was 142, the lowest since June 4, according to the Health Department.

Officials said an additional 29,343 doses of vaccine had been administered by Saturday. An additional 15,020 people were reported as being fully immunized Saturday, putting the total of fully immunized Arkansans at 457,778.

“We saw another great day for vaccinations yesterday, with an increase of more than 29,000,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said via social media Saturday.

“The decrease in hospitalizations is also a good sign. We continue to make progress against this virus.”

The rolling average of new cases has fallen from 253.4 per day to 151.1, or 40.4%, and the rolling average of deaths declined from 13.1 per day to eight, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

On Saturday, Benton County had the most new cases at 32, followed by Pulaski County at 30 and Washington County at 25.

On Tuesday, Hutchinson expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone in the state age 16 and older.