Bell County’s COVID-19 case total stands at 360 as of Thursday afternoon, and the death toll has climbed to eight locally.

According to a report from Bell County Public Health Director Teresa Hunter, three new cases were announced Tuesday, and the county now has 77 active cases. The county also has 283 recovered cases.

Currently there are five local people hospitalized with the virus, including one female, age 94, and four males, ages 62, 66, 75 and 83.

The county has also reported eight deaths since the pandemic began. Of those, there are five females, ages 68, 73, 74, 79, and 85, and three males, ages 68, 81 and 85.

Statewide, COVID cases have reached the 40,000 mark. Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday there have been 40,926 coronavirus cases in Kentucky, 655 of which were newly reported Wednesday. Fifteen of the newly reported cases were from children ages 5 and younger, including a 12-day-old baby in Jefferson County.

“Of the 655 new cases, 91 – which is 14% – are kids 18 years and younger,” the governor said.

Unfortunately,he reported 12 new deaths Wednesday, raising the total to 842 Kentuckians lost to the virus.

The deaths reported Wednesday include an 82-year-old woman and an 86-year-old man from Barren County; a 79-year-old woman from Butler County; a 78-year-old man from Garrard County; a 75-year-old woman from Harlan County; a 58-year-old woman from Hart County; a 72-year-old man from Letcher County; an 81-year-old woman and a 91-year-old man from Logan County; an 82-year-old man from Mercer County; a 62-year-old man from Oldham County; and a 42-year-old man from Warren County.

“I don’t remember two days where we had this many deaths back-to-back, and it’s the result that we talked about earlier, that when you have 3,000 cases a week, the deaths follow a couple weeks after,” the Governor said. “We’re at that point now.”

As of Wednesday, there have been at least 785,138 coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky. The positivity rate currently stands at 5.41%. At least 9,331 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.