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The state of Louisiana reported 761 COVID-19 patients in hospitals on Thursday, the lowest number of patients since March 27, according to statistics released by the Louisiana Department of Health.

The LDH said at noon Thursday that the state had 761 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and 100 of those patients required ventilators. On Wednesday, the state reported 798 hospitalizations and 100 ventilators in use.

The hospital census of 761 COVID-19 patients is at its lowest point since March 27, when there were 773 patients reported. The prior day, March 26, there were 676 patients reported.

The state first began releasing hospitalization statistics on March 23, when it reported 242 COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

The peak was April 13, when there were 2,134 COVID-19 patients reported.

The state said Thursday that there had been 38,802 cases of COVID-19 reported, with 2,635 deaths. On Wednesday, there had been 38,497 cases and 2,617 deaths reported.

The increase between Wednesday’s statewide update and Thursday’s update was an additional 305 cases and an additional 18 deaths.

Thursday was also the sixth straight day of 21 or fewer new deaths.

Washington Parish had reported 410 cases and 38 deaths, according to the Thursday update. On Wednesday, the parish had reported 407 cases and 38 deaths.

There had been 1,703 cases in St. Tammany Parish, with 156 deaths (an additional 16 cases and no additional deaths compared to Wednesday), and 831 cases in Tangipahoa Parish, with 34 deaths (an additional five cases and no additional deaths compared to Thursday).

Washington Parish had reported 3,670 COVID-19 tests, as of Thursday’s update — an increase of 124 tests compared to Wednesday’s report.

In Thursday’s update, the LDH said that 18,363 tests had been reported from the state laboratory, and an additional 336,664 tests had been reported from commercial laboratories — a total of 355,027 tests. The state had reported a total of 347,647 tests in Wednesday’s update — a difference of 7,380 tests.

The LDH reported Thursday that there are 28,700 presumed recovered cases of COVID-19, as of its May 24 update.

A person is presumed to have recovered if:

• It has been more than 14 days, since he/she tested positive and he/she is not currently in the hospital or deceased (when hospital status is known), or
• It has been more than 21 days, since he/she tested positive and he/she is not deceased (when hospital status is unknown).

The previous report was released on May 16, with 26,249 presumed recovered cases — a difference of 2,451 additional recoveries.

The LDH typically releases updated statistics each day at approximately noon. For complete statistics, visit the LDH online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.