Florida's cases of COVID-19 increase more than 3,000 Sunday; total tops 97,000

The Florida Department of Health says the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the state rose by 3,494 since yesterday morning as the virus spreads and as more people are tested across the state. The total number of cases in Florida is now 97,291.

The number of deaths has reached 3,161 an increase of 17 since Saturday's update. Locally, Highlands and Pinellas Counties are each reporting one new death.

Of the 97,291 cases, 95,139 are Florida residents while 2,152 are non-Florida residents currently in the state.

Bay Area COVID-19 cases by the numbers:

Hillsborough: 5,580

Pinellas: 3,667

Sarasota: 962

Manatee: 1,890

Sumter: 284

Polk: 2,042

Citrus: 189

Hernando: 185

Pasco: 809

Highlands: 226

DeSoto: 450

Hardee: 289

The state is not reporting a total number of "recovered" coronavirus patients or those currently hospitalized. As of Sunday, 13,037 people had been hospitalized for treatment at some point.

Source: Florida Department of Health

A total of 1,600,037 people have been tested in the state as of Sunday -- about 7.4 % of the state's population -- according to the Florida Department of Health.

RELATED: City of Tampa hands out more than 50,000 face masks for free

Gov. Ron DeSantis says the recent case increases are largely due to testing of "high-risk" individuals like farmworkers in the state's rural counties, prisoners, and residents of long-term care facilities, though he separately noted that long-term-care cases were flat.

Prior to this spike, the state had averaged just over 700 new cases per day in the last 30 days. That was a level that the health care system could handle, according to Gov. DeSantis. And while the number of new cases has trended up over the last few weeks, the number of deaths has appeared to trend down, though "significant delays" in data reporting, as the state says, make interpreting short-term trends from that statistic less reliable.

Source: Florida Department of Health

As Florida continues taking steps to ease restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts say new cases and more deaths are expected.

Editor's note: The number of new cases and deaths reported each day does not necessarily reflect the day that the case was confirmed. The state says some private testing labs dump large batches of test results which include cases from previous days. Stats for today and previous days will likely change in the future as the state reviews more cases and updates retroactive data.

The state's number of deaths represents permanent Florida residents who have died from COVID-19. The number of non-Florida residents who have died from the coronavirus while in the state is not reported.

If you feel sick:

The Florida Department of Health has a COVID-19 Call Center at 1-866-779-6121. Agents will answer questions around the clock. Questions may also be emailed to covid-19@flhealth.gov. Email responses will be sent during call center hours.

LINK: Florida's COVID-19 website

CORONAVIRUS IN FLORIDA: What you need to know

AROUND THE WORLD: CoronavirusNOW.com