Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported seven new coronavirus-related deaths and 366 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 789 fatalities and 79,572 cases.

Six of the deaths were on Oahu and one was on the Big Island. Health officials said the victims included a man and a woman in their 40s, two women in their 50s, a man and a woman in their 60s, and a woman in her 80s; all seven were hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

The state’s official coronavirus-related death toll includes 598 fatalities on Oahu, 91 on Hawaii island, 86 on Maui, eight on Kauai, one on Molokai, and five Hawaii residents who died outside the state.

The U.S. coronavirus-related death toll topped 700,000 today and the nationwide infection tally is about 43.5 million.

The number of currently hospitalized patients with COVID-19 fell below 200 today, according to a tweet this moning from Lt. Gov. Josh Green. He said 183 people with the virus are hospitalized, a drop of about 60% from the peak in early September as the delta variant surged in the islands. (State health officials later today put the hospitalization number at 182.)

Since then, Hawaii has seen a sharp drop in most virus metrics, except deaths, which are considered a lagging indicator. Hawaii had it’s highest monthly virus-related death toll in September with 193 reported fatalities, or about 25% of the state’s total pandemic death toll.

Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 212 new cases on Oahu, 91 on Hawaii island, 39 on Maui, 13 on Kauai, four on Molokai, and seven Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.

State health officials have been including probable infections in its total case counts. Probable infections include people who never received a confirmatory test but are believed to have had the virus because of their known exposure and symptoms or because of a positive antigen test. Today’s tally represents infection cases reported to the Health Department on Tuesday.

The total number of confirmed and probable coronavirus cases by island since the start of the outbreak are 55,310 on Oahu, 10,097 in Hawaii County, 9,099 on Maui, 2,268 on Kauai, X230XXX on Molokai, and 139 on Lanai. There are also 2,429 Hawaii residents who were diagnosed outside of the state.

Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 4,883 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The state’s total number of active cases decreased today by 247.

By island, Oahu has 3,278 active cases, the Big Island has 792, Maui has 416, Kauai has 359, Molokai has 36, and Lanai has two.

Health officials counted 7,184 new COVID-19 test results in today’s tally, for a 5% statewide positivity rate.

The state’s 7-day average positivity rate today is about 3.8%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard. The seven-day average case count for Oahu is 206; the seven-day average positivity rate is 4.2%; and 70% of Oahu’s population is now fully vaccinated, state health officials said today.

The latest Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine summary said today that 2,012,454 vaccine doses have been administered through state and federal distribution programs, up 5,382 from a day earlier. Health officials say that 68% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, and 76.1% have received at least one dose; and 24,122 booster shots or third doses for the immuno-compromised have been administered.

Of all the confirmed Hawaii infection cases, 4,333 have required hospitalizations, with 23 new hospitalizations reported today.

Twenty hospitalizations in the overall statewide count are Hawaii residents who were diagnosed and treated outside the state. Of the 4,313 hospitalizations within the state, 3,453 have been on Oahu, 477 on Maui, 332 on the Big Island, 43 on Kauai, five on Lanai and three on Molokai.

According to the latest information from the department’s Hawaii COVID-19 Data dashboard, a total of 182 patients with the virus were in Hawaii hospitals as of today, with 44 in intensive care units and 34 on ventilators.

The number of currently hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Hawaii has dropped more than 55% from its peak of 473 on Sept. 7, according to state data.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.