COVID-19 case numbers in Virginia continue to rise, with 3,286 cases recorded per day on average during the past week, according to the weekly report from Dr. Richard Williams, medical director of the Three Rivers Health District.

This is over 1,000 more new cases per day than last week and is approaching the peak of the delta surge, he said.

The number of cases in the Three Rivers Health District increased as well, with 329 new cases recorded from Wednesday, Dec. 15 to Wednesday, Dec. 22, up from 315 new cases reported last week. This brings the total number of cases in the district to 17,002 since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been 553 district residents hospitalized since March 2020, while 313 district residents have died.

Gloucester saw 90 new cases over the past week, for a total of 4,237 cases since the pandemic began. Three hospitalizations were removed from the list, dropping the total number of Gloucester residents hospitalized since the pandemic began to...