Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Florida reports at least 1,875 coronaviru­s deaths.

- BY MARC FREEMAN

At least 25,077 people in South Florida have tested positive for the new coronaviru­s, the state reported Thursday. That’s 435 more than the day before.

The Department of Health data also shows that 1,065 people in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties have died from COVID-19, up 26 from Wednesday.

There have been 1,875 people who have died from COVID-19 throughout Florida, according to the state, an increase of 48 over the previous 24 hours.

The state also reported Thursday that Florida has had a total of 43,210 cases, 808 more than on Wednesday.

The three South Florida counties, home to 29.9% of Florida’s population, have had 56.8% of the state’s coronaviru­s deaths and 58% of the cases. The region leads the state in the number of cases.

But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the numbers are continuing to trend in a positive direction, with fewer

people each day testing positive, requiring hospital treatment or dying than a month ago.

“The data and the facts are very clear that southeast Florida, even though they had to face the most significan­t epidemic in the state of Florida, they flattened the curve,” DeSantis said.

He made the assessment during a news conference in Doral to announce some businesses will begin to reopen on Monday in MiamiDade and Broward. That’s two weeks later than most of the rest of the state; Palm Beach County began a partial reboot on Monday.

Breaking down South Florida’s statistics further, the report released Thursday shows:

Miami-Dade County, the Florida coronaviru­s hot spot, has had 14,742 cases, an increase of 274 from Wednesday. The number of deaths in Miami-Dade, 535, is 17 more than it was a day earlier. Miami-Dade County, which has 13% of the state’s population, has 34.1% of the state’s cases and 28.5% of the deaths.

Broward has had 6,057 cases, 59 more than Wednesday. There have been 267 deaths, with no change in the last 24 hours.

Palm Beach County has had 4,278 cases, 102 more than Wednesday. It has had 263 deaths, nine more than Wednesday.

“If you look at the case numbers and the percentage­s of new individual­s testing positive in Miami-Dade, it’s far below in the last 10 days what it was in the beginning of April when they were having over 500 cases a day,” DeSantis said. “And I think the story is similar in Broward County.”

U.S., global view: The coronaviru­s death toll in the United States rose to 84,144 on Thursday morning, including at least than 27,477 victims in the national hot spot of New York. The country’s total number of cases is almost 1.4 million.

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