54 new COVID-19 deaths, 2,543 new cases, MDH reports

Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 54 new deaths from COVID-19 and 2,543 newly reported positive COVID-19 tests.

Since the situation update for COVID-19 did not update on Friday, due to the holiday. The updates will resume on Saturday with data from Thursday, Dec. 31.

Also, as of Saturday, there have been a total of 57,017 COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Minnesota, according to MDH.

A total of 53,691 cumulative Pfizer vaccinations have been administered, as of Saturday, while a total of 3,283 cumulative Moderna vaccinations have been administered. Additionally, there are 43 attributed to "unknown/missing vaccine type," according to MDH.

According to vaccine distribution data from MDH, which is updated weekly on Wednesdays, there have been 169,650 doses of the Pfizer vaccine allocated from the CDC and distributed to providers as of Wednesday. Additionally, there have been 127,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine allocated from the CDC and distributed to providers as of Wednesday. According to MDH, 277 provider sites have received vaccine doses.

Of the 2,543 newly reported cases, 343 of them are noted as probable cases, according to MDH. A total of 14,682 probable cases have been reported since antigen testing began in September.

So far, 5,377 people have died from the coronavirus in Minnesota. Of those deaths, 176 are listed as probable COVID-19 deaths. Of the total deaths reported as of Saturday, 3,464 were in long-term care facilities.

To date, 21,984 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized in Minnesota and 4,620 patients have been in the ICU.

According to MDH, the new positive COVID-19 cases in Minnesota reported on Saturday moved the state’s total to 417,832 since pandemic record-keeping began.

A total of 398,199 patients have recovered or are recovering and no longer need isolation, according to MDH.

As of Saturday, more than 5.61 million COVID-19 tests have been completed in Minnesota.

KSTP’s complete COVID-19 coverage

See the full Minnesota COVID-19 situation update here.

According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the virus has infected more than 84.1 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million people.

About 47.4 million people worldwide have recovered as of Saturday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, patients with confirmed COVID-19 have mild to severe respiratory problems, with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. Some patients report a loss of smell and/or taste and having muscle aches, headache, sore throat, and/or chills and shaking.

Note: According to MDH – "Because all data are preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths."