Updated at 3 p.m. Thursday

TOPEKA — In response to increasing demand, Kansas health officials said Thursday they are working to increase the availability of COVID-19 testing sites.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in a news release that demand for testing has significantly increased in the past month as COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant continue to rise.

Kansas saw an average of 8,386 new cases a day for the seven days ending Wednesday, according to state data, which is a record. The state also had an average of 39 new hospitalizations and 21 additional deaths a day for the same period.

One of the deaths added to the state data Wednesday was a child, the seventh child to die in Kansas from COVID-19, health officials said. The child was in the 9-and-under age range, but no other information was released.

To reduce wait times, both for tests and for test results, the health department is working with local departments to increase staff at existing sites and adding 13 new testing sites, some of which opened or will open this week.

The department also said it is extending PCR testing through March for long-term care facilities and prioritizing antigen, or rapid, testing for school districts, adding more than 530,000 additional antigen test kits.