The number of active coronavirus cases in Wyoming increased for a fifth consecutive day Wednesday as reported recoveries failed to keep up with reports of new cases.

The Wyoming Department of Health, in its daily coronavirus update, said 261 new laboratory-confirmed cases were reported Wednesday, along with 60 new probable cases.

At the same time, 79 new recoveries among patients with confirmed or probable cases were also reported, leaving Wyoming with 1,784 active cases, an increase of 242 from Tuesday. The number of active cases has increased every day since Saturday.

As of Wednesday, Laramie County had 267 active cases; Natrona County had 252; Park County had 151; Campbell County had 132; Sheridan and Sweetwater had 113; Lincoln had 100; Uinta had 99; Teton had 87; Albany and Fremont had 81; Big Horn had 68; Platte had 40; Carbon had 32; Converse had 31; Washakie had 28; Hot Springs and Sublette had 26; Johnson had 21; Goshen had 19; Weston had 11; Crook had four, and Niobrara had two.

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 confirmed cases were reported in 20 counties, with Laramie County having the highest number of new cases at 48. Park County had 32 new cases.

The new confirmed cases brought the total seen since the coronavirus was first detected in Wyoming in mid-March to 39,215.

The number of probable cases seen since mid-March stood at 6,675 on Wednesday with the 60 new cases.

Recoveries since the pandemic began grew to 43,642 on Wednesday.