SATURDAY UPDATES: Boone County sets new daily COVID case record

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

UPDATE 5:15 P.M.: The Morgan County Health Center reported four new COVID-19 cases Saturday.

The county has now had 143 cases of the virus.

There are 33 active cases of the virus.

UPDATE 4:30 P.M.: The Columbia/Boone County Health Department reported 221 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, a new record.

The previous record for new daily cases was 168 on September 2.

The health department has reported 3,331 total cases in Boone County. There are currently 1,066 active cases of the virus.

The five day average has jumped to 143.4.

Saturday marks the fourth day Boone County has had more than 100 new daily cases.

ORIGINAL: The Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,987 new COVID-19 cases Saturday. The case total in Missouri has reached 92,202.

The department also reported 77 new deaths bringing the death toll in the state up to 1,639. Only five of those new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

The department reported that analysts found an inconsistency in death certificate diagnosis codes when they compared them to case information.

As a result, the department reported 72 additional deaths on Saturday, even though most of them occurred in June through August.

The department said it plans to report more of these additional deaths on Sunday, although not as many.

According to DHSS, the case fatality rate in Missouri is still down significantly from more than 7% in both April and May to less than 1% in August.