Maine reported another 665 cases of COVID-19 on Friday and three additional deaths, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The continued spike in cases – there were 624 reported on Thursday – comes a day after CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah warned that case numbers are likely to be high for several days.

Shah said his department is reviewing a backlog of 1,800 cases and that he is assigning more staff to speed up those reviews. Those are in addition to 1,700 cases reviewed last week, he said.

“What that means for you is that the number of cases we are reporting right now is certain to go up in the coming days as we plow through these 1,800 cases,” he said during a press briefing on Thursday.

The most recent hospitalization numbers, which were updated on Thursday, show 160 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with 67 in critical care and 26 on a ventilator.

“Compared to two weeks ago, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19,” Shah said. “Two weeks ago, one incubation period ago, there were 93 people who were hospitalized, 67 fewer than today.”

As of Thursday, Shah said there were 33 open outbreak investigations statewide, 19 of which are at health care facilities or group homes.

On the vaccination front, Shah said there’s been a 31% increase in the number of doses given per day in the last few weeks. He said 81.3% of eligible Mainers – those 12 and up -- have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

As of Friday, there were 77,578 cases of COVID-19 reported since the pandemic began, with 55,815 confirmed cases and 21,763 probable cases. Deaths stand at 940.