The number of COVID-positive patients in Riverside County hospitals has dropped from 780 to 720, according to the latest state figures out Sunday.
Of those patients, 125 were in intensive care, down from 135 on Saturday.
Officials have said some patients entered hospitals for other reasons and only discovered they had COVID after a hospital-mandated test.
The latest numbers come two days after the Riverside University Health System reported 2,364 new cases of COVID-19 but no new deaths associated with the virus, leaves the county’s COVID death toll at 5,918 since the pandemic began.
Fatalities are considered trailing indicators because of delays processing death certificates, meaning some deaths may have actually occurred weeks ago, according to health officials.
The aggregate number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the county since the pandemic began in March 2020 is 460,128.
The number of known active virus cases in the county was 52,399 as of Friday. The active count is derived by subtracting deaths and recoveries from the current total — 460,128. Verified patient recoveries countywide are 401,811.
The RUHS does not report COVID data on weekends.