There are 197 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Georgia as of noon Wednesday, March 18.

In total, more than 1,500 tests have been performed by state and commercial labs. Just under 450 have been done by the Georgia Department of Public Health while the majority of results, 1,065 tests, have come from other laboratories.

87% of the total COVID-19 tests done in Georgia have not come back as positive for the illness.

The daily update comes as health officials seek to ramp up testing capacity, setting up drive-through testing sites across the state.

A majority of the confirmed cases are concentrated in the Metro Atlanta area, with Fulton, Cobb, Bartow and DeKalb counties home to the highest number of patients.

In southwest Georgia, Dougherty County has seven confirmed cases. Doctors at Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany are awaiting results from tests of dozens of ill patients as protective medical supplies dwindle. Hospital officials said Wednesday afternoon that two patients who were being treated there had died, although those numbers are not yet reflected in the state's data.

The University of Georgia said that a staff member in the Athletics department is hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 and a second member of the Athletics Department was self-quaranting as a precaution.

Georgia has received medical supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile, including 100,000 masks, 10 pallets of medical face shields, 10,000 gloves, 25,000 gowns, 26,000 shoe covers and 1,000 goggles, Gov. Brian Kemp said during a digital briefing Tuesday.

Read the Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report

Tags: Coronavirus  Atlanta  Georgia  Macon  Savannah