State health officials reported Tuesday an additional 61 deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total since last Thursday in Alabama to 180. The state has recorded 12,283 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began.
The number of coronavirus cases in 2020 and 2021 in Alabama is fast approaching 700,000, with the total reaching 699,729 on Tuesday, when the Alabama Department of Public Health reported 5,206 new cases.
Across the state, there were 2,866 COVID patients at 104 hospitals Tuesday. The number of patients  increased by 62 since Monday.
UAB Hospital is caring for 204 COVID patients, with 44 listed as no longer infectious.
Nineteen children were reported positive with the coronavirus at Children’s Hospital, Birmingham, including fewer than five on ventilators.
Nationwide, nearly 4.8 million children have tested positive for COVID since the onset of the pandemic.
About 204,000 cases involving children were added nationwide last week, marking the second week for the number to be at the level of the winter surge in 2020-2021, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
After a decline of the virus in children in early summer, the national number  increased five-fold from July 22 to Aug. 22.