11,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina; More local cases reported

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released its latest numbers of coronavirus cases across the state.

As of 11 a.m. on Saturday, there are 11,509 cases in North Carolina and at least 420 deaths. 502 people are currently hospitalized. 139,475 tests have been performed so far.

Two new cases were reported Saturday in Columbus County, bringing the total to 165 COVID-19 cases. Ten of those were confirmed on Friday. Five of them are connected to family members, three are connected to congregate living facilities, and one is from the COVID-19 outbreak at the nearby Smithfield Foods facility. The last one is still under investigation. There have been ten deaths total for Columbus County.

There have been 85 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Hanover County and three deaths. Of those cases, 59 have fully recovered.

Brunswick County announced four additional cases on Friday, bring the their total to 47 confirmed cases;  34 are now considered recovered. Four people have died, two are county residents and the other two were visiting the county.

Pender County is reporting 16 confirmed cases, four of which were offenders at Pender Correctional. One of those inmates died. At least eight people have recovered. There have been five additional confirmed positive tests of Pender County residents performed by healthcare providers outside the county.

Bladen County reports 27 positive cases with no coronavirus-related deaths.