COVID-19 in Virginia: 6,500 new cases reported Friday, Feb. 4, 2022

RICHMOND, Va. -- In an effort to provide accurate, easy-to-read information on the on-going COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on our community, WTVR.com will update this post with the day's local coronavirus headlines and statistics.

COVID-19 IN VIRGINIA (Scroll to bottom for U.S. stats)

Positive COVID-19 Cases Since Start of Pandemic: 1,572,022 (+6,500 from Thursday's update)
People Hospitalized Since Start of Pandemic: 47,178 (*-58 from Thursday)
COVID-19-Linked Deaths Since Start of Pandemic: 16,703 (**+155 from Thursday)

TESTING
Total Tests: 17,807,964 (+45,142 from Thursday)
All Health Districts Current 7-Day Positivity Rate Total: 20.6% (Down from 21.3% Thursday)

IN-DEPTH: County-by-county look at COVID-19 cases in Virginia; which areas saw biggest spike last week

VACCINATIONS
People Vaccinated with at least One Dose: 6,783,549
% of Population with at least One Dose: 79.0%
% of 18+ Population with at least One Dose: 89.8%

People Fully Vaccinated: 6,025,443
% of Population Fully Vaccinated: 70.1%
% of 18+ Population Fully Vaccinated: 80.3%

People Fully Vaccinated with Booster/Third Dose: 2,625,441

NOTE: This data is provided from the Virginia Department of Healthdaily at 10 a.m. Officials said their cutoff for data is 5 p.m. the previous day. So your local health department may have issued an alert about a case before it is added to the statewide tally released the following day. Get the latest charts and updated numbers from VDH here.

**Officials with the Virginia Department of Health said the recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to omicron resulted in an increase in COVID-19-associated deaths.

"Beginning Feb. 2, VDH’s Cases dashboard began to reflect these deaths. The majority of the COVID-19-associated deaths (92%) that will be added occurred in January 2022," health department officials wrote. "Certified death certificates continue to be reported, so VDH will continue to receive new death certificates for the deaths that occurred in January 2022 and those that will occur subsequently over the next few weeks and months ahead until the Omicron surge dissipates."

*Officials with the Office of Epidemiology previously said ongoing Quality assurance (QA), which is conducted on all COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, is the reason for the decrease in the number of hospitalizations.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: COVID-19 HEADLINES (App users, click here for a complete list.)

Virginians age 5+ are eligible for COVID-19 vaccine. Go to Vaccine Finderto search for specific vaccines available near you or call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-275-8343).

LATEST COVID-19 U.S. AND WORLDWIDE STATS