FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) -- Kentucky saw the number of COVID-19 related deaths drop for the third straight day on Saturday, while new cases and the state’s positivity rate both had small increases.
 

There were 46 new deaths, down from 57 on Friday and Thursday’s single day record of 69. This brings to 3,714 the number of Kentuckians who have lost their lives due to the coronavirus. Information on the ages and counties of the latest victims was not available.
 

On Saturday, 2,649 new cases were reported to state public health officials. Kentucky has now seen 361,124 positive cases, since the first one was reported on March 2, 2020, in Harrison County.
 

Four counties had at least 100 cases: Jefferson 357, Fayette 177, Franklin 144, and Kenton 125. The remainder of the top ten Kentucky counties for new cases were Boone 99, Pike 69, Daviess 63, Warren 61, Campbell 59 and Barren 52.
 

There were 1,415 Kentuckians hospitalized due to the coronavirus on Saturday, nearly 100 less than Friday’s 1,505. Of them, those who were in the ICU rose from 355 to 362, while the number on a ventilator decreased from 199 to 185.
 

The state’s positivity rate, based on a seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 testing, broke a streak of 11 straight days of declines, rising to 8.82% on Saturday. This follows Friday’s 8.75%, which was the lowest rate so far this year. It had peaked at 11.64% back on Jan. 18.
 

Already, 400,267 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have now been administered in Kentucky, 342,771 through the state’s program, and 57,496 for the long term care facilities program administered by CVS and Walgreen’s under a contract with the federal government.
 

Gov. Andy Beshear noted, “We are on track to vaccinate Kentuckians faster than the federal government sends us doses for the fourth straight week. Everyone will get a turn, we just need more supply.”