With Thursday’s update from the Indiana Department of Health, Indiana surpassed 1.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. The state hit that milestone just one week after surpassing 1.4 million.

The state added 16,539 new cases to its total, pushing the state beyond 1.5 million cases. IDOH reports nearly 75 percent of sampled cases are the omicron variant.

In November, the state averaged 2,707.1 new cases per day. But in December, when the strain was making its way through the U.S., that grew to 5,192.9. For January so far, the state is averaging 12,579.0 cases per day.

But there are some early positive signs the state is approaching its omicron peak: the state’s two largest counties – Lake and Marion counties – are seeing cases start to drop. And after exponential increases for the last four weeks, cases this week are less than 1,500 higher than last.

READ MORE: Skyrocketing omicron cases are less likely to be severe, but could still overwhelm hospitals

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IDOH reported nearly 97,000 new cases in the last week. And since Sept. 1, the state has reported 43,400 reinfections statewide.

Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.