By Tim Mastro

DOVER — The Delaware Division of Public Health announced 24 COVID-19-related deaths in its Wednesday update, including 13 newly reported deaths which were a result of a review of Vital Statistics records.

The review was of death certificate records from December and January. The 24 deaths bring the state’s COVID-19-related death toll to 1,245 since March 11.

New Castle County accounted for a majority of the 24 deaths with 16. Kent County and Sussex County recorded four deaths each in the report.

The 24 people who died ranged in age from 43 to 99 years old. Individuals 65 years and older have experienced the most COVID-19-related deaths in the state with 1,043 (83%).

Thirteen of the newly reported deaths were residents of a long-term care facility, bringing the long-term care resident COVID-19-related death count to 640 (51%).

Delaware’s current COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased by two compared to the day prior, down to 252 as of Tuesday at 6 p.m. Of those currently hospitalized, 25 are considered critical.

The seven-day rolling average of percentage of positive tests dropped to 6% — the lowest it has been since Nov. 23. That figure is as of Sunday at 6 p.m. due to a two-day lag to account for the time delay between the date of the test and the date the DPH receives the test result.

The DPH reported 260 new positive cases of the virus in Wednesday’s update as the total number of positives rose to 81,464.

According to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine tracker, 129,156 doses of vaccine have been administered so far. The state is reporting 9,444 doses remaining in its inventory as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday with another shipment expected from the federal government this week.