BATON ROUGE - Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations climbed even higher in Louisiana on Wednesday, with more than 1,500 people now hospitalized with the virus statewide.

The state reported yet another 4,699 new cases Wednesday, with a positivity rate of about 15.51 percent on new tests. 

The Louisiana Department of Health had reported 6,797 new cases Tuesday, with a positivity rate of about 21.03 percent in tests reported that day.

On July 21, one week ago, Louisiana saw an increase of 5,388 cases. At the time, state health officials said that was the third largest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic. 

Hospitalizations were at 1,524 on Wednesday, up from 1,390 patients a day earlier. That number was at 1,221 on Monday. The governor's office said the increase of 169 from Monday to Tuesday was the largest single-day jump for hospitalizations since March 2020.

“To see this current rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is becoming increasingly scary,” Gov. Edwards said in a statement Tuesday. “We reported nearly 6,800 cases today in addition to the nearly 8,000 that were reported from the weekend. And today, there are close to 1,400 COVID patients hospitalized statewide -- approximately 90 percent of whom are unvaccinated. This is the largest single daily increase since March of last year. the largest single daily increase since March of last year.

The state also reported another 14 deaths related to the virus on Wednesday.

View the latest coronavirus data from the state below.