The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wyoming grew Tuesday by the highest number seen since the pandemic began in March.

News of the 64 new laboratory-confirmed cases came as the Wyoming Department of Health announced a Uinta County man had become the 26th Wyoming resident to die as a result of the illness.

The department said the man, who was being treated at an out-of-state hospital, had underlying health issues that would put patients at a higher risk of complications from the illness.

Meanwhile, the increase in new confirmed cases — along with the growth of five in the number of probable cases seen in the state — pushed the number of active coronavirus cases in the state to 595, including 497 people with confirmed cases and 98 with probable cases.

Laramie County had the highest number of active cases at 109; Fremont County had 88; Teton County had 81; Carbon County had 46; Sweetwater County had 45; Uinta had 42; Park had 40; Natrona had 33; Lincoln had 31; Albany had 26; Campbell had 19; Sublette had 15; Sheridan had seven; Hot Springs and Washakie had three; Big Horn and Goshen had two, and Converse, Platte and Weston counties had one.

Crook, Johnson and Niobrara counties had no active cases.

Active cases are determined by adding the total confirmed and probable coronavirus cases diagnosed since the illness first surfaced in Wyoming on March 12, subtracting the number of recoveries during the same period among patients with both confirmed and probable cases and taking into account the number of deaths attributed to the illness.

New cases were reported in Albany, Campbell, Carbon, Fremont, Goshen, Laramie, Lincoln, Natrona, Park, Sheridan, Sweetwater, Teton and Uinta counties, with Teton County recording the highest increase for the day at 18.

The growth brought to 2,136 the number of laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases seen since the illness was first detected in Wyoming, while the number of probable cases seen since March grew by five to total 453.

A probable case is one where a patient has coronavirus symptoms and has been in contact with someone with a confirmed case, but has not been tested.

The number of recoveries among the 2,589 patients with confirmed or probable cases also went up Tuesday, growing by 55 to total 1,970. That included 1,615 recoveries among patients with confirmed cases and 355 recoveries among those with probable cases.

A recovery is considered to have occurred when a patient has gone for three days without a temperature and has seen improvement in respiratory problems.