South Carolina's tally of new COVID-19 cases fell to a six-day low on Monday because of incomplete reporting amid a nationwide surge of the fast-spreading respiratory virus.

State health officials reported 2,644 new confirmed cases and 35 probable cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, along with 14 additional confirmed deaths and one probable death. Officials noted the data was incomplete because of a technical problem they were working with a vendor to correct.

Monday's announcement represents the test results and deaths reported to the state on Saturday.

Laurens County added 44 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Greenwood County recorded 28, Abbeville County saw six, Saluda County logged six and McCormick County had five.

This brings South Carolina's number of confirmed cases to 326,588, probable cases to 31,066, confirmed deaths to 5,315 and probable deaths to 496.

More than 80% of hospital beds are filled across the state, with 2,387 (26.2%) of those patients being treated for COVID-19. Of those, 465 patients are in ICU and 250 are on ventilators.

A confirmed case is an individual who had a confirmatory viral test performed by way of a throat or nose swab and that specimen tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19, DHEC reports. A positive viral test, also called a PCR test or molecular test, alone is enough to classify a confirmed case.

DHEC reports a probable case is an individual who has not had a confirmatory viral test performed but has:

1. epidemiologic evidence and clinical evidence of infection, or

2. a positive antigen test and either epidemiologic evidence or clinical evidence.

A confirmed death is said to be someone whose death is related to COVID-19 and who tested positive with a confirmatory viral test for COVID-19.

A probable death classification refers to an individual whose death certificate lists COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death but did not undergo confirmatory viral testing.

Cumulative confirmed case totals for Greenwood and surrounding counties are:

Abbeville — 1,232 (21 deaths)

Edgefield — 1,609 (19 deaths)

Greenwood — 4,660 (95 deaths)

Laurens — 4,147 (93 deaths)

McCormick — 492 (7 deaths)

Newberry — 2,849 (65 deaths)

Saluda — 1,034 (25 deaths)

Who Should Get Tested?

If you are out and about in the community, around others, or not able to socially distance or wear a mask, DHEC recommends that you get tested at least once a month.

Routine testing allows public health workers to diagnose those who are asymptomatic and interrupt the ongoing spread of the virus. Learn more about who should get tested here: scdhec.gov/covid19/who-should-get-tested-covid-19.

Testing in South Carolina

As of Saturday, 4,061,891 tests had been conducted in the state. The total number of individual test results reported Saturday to DHEC was 10,198 (not including antibody tests) and the percent positive was 25.9%.