The World Health Organization has decided to assign different Greek alphabet letters like Alpha, Beta and Gamma to each new coronavirus mutation in an effort to decrease stigma.
Florida's confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by over 1,200 Wednesday, as the state's virus-related death toll rose by more than 50.
The 1,234 new confirmed COVID-19 cases brought Florida's total to 2,327,989 since the outbreak began, according to figures released by the state's department of health.
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Another 55 new virus-related deaths among Florida residents were reported Wednesday, bringing the state's total to 36,924. An additional 741 non-resident deaths have been confirmed in the state to-date, one more than Tuesday's reported total. Most of the newly confirmed deaths occurred days or weeks earlier.
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The positivity rate for new cases in the state was 3.33% in Wednesday's department of health coronavirus report, down from Tuesday's rate of 3.85%.
The positivity rate for all cases, including people who have already been tested, was 4.16% Wednesday.
In South Florida, Miami-Dade County reached 501,639 cases on Wednesday, an increase of 216 since Tuesday, along with a total of 6,457 COVID-related deaths, 17 more than the total reported Tuesday.
In Broward County, there were 245,095 total COVID-19 cases reported, a daily increase of 59, along with 3,079 virus-related deaths, a single-day increase of two.
Palm Beach County had 148,713 total cases and 2,881 virus-related deaths Wednesday, while Monroe County had 7,092 cases and 51 deaths.
More than 10,365,750 people have been vaccinated in the state as of Wednesday, according to the latest report from the department of health.
