Lansing — The number of COVID-19 cases in Michigan climbed to 27,001 on Tuesday with 1,768 deaths.

The state added 166 deaths and 1,366 cases in data released by the Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday. Both numbers are increases compared with the daily totals for the past three days.

The new number of new cases added in a 24-hour period was the largest in six days. The number of deaths reported was the largest since Friday and the second largest daily total since the state reported its first COVID-19 case on March 10.

The new numbers come a day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state's chief medical executive, publicly voiced optimism that the curve of cases in Michigan had begun to flatten.

Although the number of new cases reported Tuesday was up compared with recent days, it was still a drop from the high of 1,953 new cases revealed on April 3.

“Despite the reductions in the rate of growth, there are still many new cases and deaths every single day," Khaldun cautioned during the Monday press conference. "We are closely monitoring the entire state and we’re starting to see increases, actually, in some parts of the state.”

Metro Detroit continues to have the most cases here. Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties are home to 78% of Michigan's cases. But that percentage is down from 85% three weeks ago.

Of the 14 counties in the state with at least 100 cases, Wayne County has experienced the smallest rate of growth in cases during the past week. Lapeer, Saginaw and Kent counties have seen the largest rates of increase over the same period.

Lapeer now has 117 cases. Saginaw has 302 cases. And Kent has 325 cases. They had 56, 153 and 187, respectively, seven days ago.

President Donald Trump listed Michigan on Monday among four "hot spots" where hospitalizations were slowing.

There are other signs of progress in the fight against COVID-19 in the state as well.

A 1,000-bed field hospital at the TCF Center in Detroit had only eight patients on Tuesday after opening to patients on Friday. The state previously announced it would place fewer beds than originally planned at another field hospital at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.

In addition, tracking released by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows that fewer people are testing positive for the virus in recent days.

In the five day period from April 7 through Sunday, April 11, an average of 31% of tests done in Michigan each day came back positive. For the previous five days, the daily average of positive results was 40%.

As of Friday, the state had reported 433 COVID-19 recoveries. These are individuals who tested positive and survived 30 days after the onset of their illness. The figure is updated once per week.

Michigan currently has the fourth most cases of the virus among all U.S. states, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. Michigan is behind New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Of Michigan's 83 counties, 75 or 90% of them now have at least one confirmed case.

cmauger@detroitnews.com