The number of Florida residents testing positive for COVID-19 dropped during the past two weeks, while pandemic deaths are nearing 80,000, according to data released Friday by the state Department of Health.

The data showed that 43,703 people tested positive for COVID-10 from Aug. 19 through Thursday, after 45,416 tested positive the previous week.

Those were the first weeks in more than two months that new cases totaled fewer than 50,000.

Meanwhile, the new data showed that at least 79,573 Florida residents have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started in early 2020.

That was up from a total of 78,559 in a report released Aug. 12.

Because of lags in reporting, it is unclear when the additional deaths occurred.