Coronavirus cases continued to climb in Ohio on Saturday as Gov. Mike DeWine decided against holding his daily virus briefings again this weekend.

Ohio’s confirmed and probable coronavirus cases surpassed 10,000 on Saturday, with a spike in numbers coming from a state prison where more than 1,000 inmates now are ill with COVID-19.

With testing of every inmate near complete, an additional 692 cases among prisoners were reported at Marion Correctional Institution to raise its total to 1,057 — about 10% of all cases reported in Ohio since March 9.

The infected inmates — 42% of all prisoners — are in isolation while the prison’s other 1,438 inmates are under quarantine. A total of 108 prison employees have contracted COVID-19 and one has died.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction also reported a fifth overall confirmed inmate virus death at Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. The other four -- and one probable death -- occurred at Pickaway Correctional Institution, where 202 inmates and 64 staff members are ill with the virus.

Gov. MIke DeWine said Friday that a dorm at Marion had all 152 inmates test positive for the virus, but — alarmingly — 60 showed no symptoms.

"I want Ohioans to know that these numbers do not necessarily indicate a new problem at these facilities, but simply wider testing," the governor said.

Unionized prison staff have been upset with state precautions, with the union buying nearly $200,000 in protective equipment for corrections officers.

Marion is so short staffed that state troopers are patrolling the perimeter and National Guard troops are being trained to assume prison jobs.

Statewide, an additional 1,081 positive tests were reported at 2 p.m. Saturday from Friday’s total, and the state also added 34 probable cases.

That brings the number of confirmed cases to 9,939, and the total including probable cases to 10,222. That represents an increase of 12.2% from Friday’s reported case total.

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Most of Saturday’s increase in cases can be attributed to Marion County and its prison. The county about 40 miles north of Columbus saw a surge of about 555 cases reported Saturday, representing a 130% increase. But the prison system later reported nearly 700.

The jump means that Marion County now has the third-highest number of cases in Ohio at 983, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The state’s latest case count puts Franklin County just 50 behind Cuyahoga County, which emerged as the state’s first hot spot several weeks ago. Franklin County had 1,403 cases as of Saturday, while Cuyahoga County reported 1,453, according to the state health department. Franklin County now has recorded 28 deaths.

Ohio’s confirmed virus deaths rose Saturday to 434, while probable deaths remained at 17, bringing the statewide total to 451.

As of Saturday, 2,519 Ohioans had been hospitalized, including 760 who were admitted to intensive care units, according to the state.

DeWine decided to forgo his daily press conferences this weekend, one of just a few times he’s done so since the coronavirus crisis began. There also were no briefings last weekend.

On April 10, the state health department changed the way it reports data. It is now including a count of probable cases and deaths in its overall total, based on an expanded definition of the COVID-19 disease from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Until April 10, cases were counted only if they had been confirmed by a lab test, DeWine said earlier this month.

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People are counted in the probable category if they are diagnosed through new, rapid methods of testing, DeWine has said. The "probable" category also includes a patient who has been exposed to a confirmed case, falls ill and does not test positive for another disease.

The change allows officials to better track and isolate cases as they pop up, the governor said.

Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow and Akron Beacon Journal Reporter Doug Livingston contributed to this story.

mfilby@dispatch.com

@MaxFilby

CORRECTION: Due to a reporter’s error, a prior version of this story misstated the percentage of inmates infected with the virus.