New Mexico sees highest daily virus case count in over 3 weeks; Doña Ana among top 3 in state

SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico health officials confirmed an additional 659 Covid-19 infections Friday — marking the highest daily case total in more than three weeks.

The New Mexico Department of Health noted that 209 of the new cases occurred in Albuquerque's Bernalillo County, 191 others involved inmates at a state lockup in Lea County and Doña Ana County posted 58 added infections.

State officials earlier this week had expressed optimism about downward trends in the overall spread of the virus among the general population, with all 33 counties reporting positivity rates below 10%.

However, they acknowledged that the seven-day rolling average of daily cases remained above the state’s target.

In all, New Mexico has reported nearly 185,000 cases since the pandemic began over a year ago.

The death toll stands at 3,685, with more than a dozen deaths reported Friday. Those included a man in his 50s and another in his 70s from Doña Ana County, as well as a woman in her 90s from Otero County.

The number of people registering to receive vaccinations continued to climb, with nearly 660,000 signed up.

State data shows more than 557,000 shots have been administered. That includes nearly 198,000 New Mexicans who have received their second shots.

Below you can see county-by-county data for virus cases and deaths across New Mexico. The data comes from Johns Hopkins University, so the numbers may sometimes vary a bit from what's reported by the state health department.