The COVID-19 toll in Alabama continued to climb with 3,522 new cases and 43 deaths in Wednesday’s daily update by the state Department of Public Health.

There have been 280,187 cases of the disease and 3,985 deaths since the pandemic began in March.

The number of people in Alabama hospitals for the coronavirus reached another record level on Tuesday, with 2,097 across the state. That included a record 140 at UAB on Tuesday morning.

UAB’s census of COVID-19 patients rose to another record high of 149 on Wednesday, eclipsing the previous mark of 140 the previous day.

A band of counties across north Alabama continued to have the most cases of COVID-19 per capita over the last two weeks. Jackson County (Scottsboro) had 2,013 cases per 100,000 population over the 14-day period. Ranking behind Jackson were Etowah County, 1,365; Marshall County, 1,310; Cullman, County, 1,256; Morgan County, 1,230; Winston County, 1,079; and Blount County, 1,057.