Ten residents die from coronavirus outbreak infecting all 62 occupants of a nursing home in a Kansas county suffering from the largest proportional two week increase in the country

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A coronavirus outbreak has killed 10 residents and infected all 62 in a nursing home in a northwestern Kansas county.

Norton County already had proportionally the nation's largest increase in cases over two weeks before the new cases in the nursing home were confirmed.

The health department in the county reported on Monday night that all 62 residents and an unspecified number of employees at the privately run Andbe Home in Norton had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. 

Andbe Nursing Home in Norton, Kansas (pictured) has seen all 62 of its residents test positive for coronavirus, 10 of which have died and one is in hospital being treated for the disease

The agency also said one Andbe Home resident was hospitalized, while the remaining 51 were being treated at the home.

It is not known how many of the infected residents are experiencing symptoms of the disease that hits the elderly the hardest.

The local health department said residents are being quarantined in their rooms and the home is not allowing outside visitors.

'Steps are being taken to prevent any further outbreak, including quarantining residents in their rooms and not allowing outside visitors into the facility,' the county health department said in a statement Monday evening. 

'Family members of the residents have been notified,' the statement added.

The outbreak at the nursing home came after the state Department of Health and Environment last week reported more than 100 cases at the state's prison in Norton over the two weeks ending Wednesday.  

Norton County as a whole had the largest number of new cases per 100,000 of any country in the U.S. for the two weeks ending Sunday, according to the Bradenton Harald.

The Kansas health department said that cases in the county rose from 46 two weeks ago to 340 as of Monday. With around 5,400 residents, the increase represented around 5,484 cases per 100,000 residents.

Pictured: A graph showing the daily count of daily new coronavirus cases and total cases in Norton County, Kansas

Pictured: A graph showing the daily count of daily new coronavirus cases and total cases in Kansas

However, the state released the report before all the Andbe care home residents had tested positive, so the figure is now expected to increase further. 

Kansas is seeing an average of more than 700 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases a day, its largest numbers since early March.

A total of 806 clusters have been reported in the state - 240 of which have been identified at long-term care facilities. 

According to figures from the state department of health, 72,968 people have contracted coronavirus in Kansas and 872 deaths have been attributed to the illness. There have been 3,421 resulting hospitalizations. 

At a federal level, 252,939 cases of coronavirus have been reported among nursing home residents, and more than 59,600 people have died. 

Some of the first confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported at the Live Care Center in Kirkland, Washington and in the following weeks and months, states put limits on visitations to protect vulnerable residents.

Many have since loosened the restrictions so that loved ones can visit. 

A US Senate report released last month found that in July and August, 'more than one nursing home resident was infected every minute, and 11 residents died every hour.'

It also found that some nursing homes still lacked adequate testing capacity while suffering from shortages in staff and PPE. 

Governor Laura Kelly - along with Wichita State University officials - lauded the opening of a new laboratory that can run 32,000 coronavirus testing specimens per week

Meanwhile, Governor Laura Kelly - along with Wichita State University officials - lauded the opening of a new laboratory that can run 32,000 coronavirus testing specimens per week.

'We can help provide certainty that our schools and our businesses can stay open safely,' Kelly said in a statement, saying that the lab will help the state identify coronavirus hot spots faster.  

Speaking last week, Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, gave an update on the coronavirus situation in Kansas.

Facing questions from the media, Norman was first asked about people deliberately meeting at their homes to catch coronavirus and develop immunity, as with measles and chicken pox. 

'Deliberately getting it is a bad idea, because it does allow for continued spread,' he said. 'There are a lot of vulnerable people who will not survive.

'And, keep in mind, there's a lot of people that we're referring to as "long haulers", people that have had it over the long-haul, or over 100 days, and still manifesting significant symptoms. It's nothing to trifle with,' he added.

Norman went on to stress the importance of remembering that it is still possible to spread the virus amongst family members. 

'Probably the thing that I find most interesting, to use that term, is how people really don't think they can get it from their family,' he said.

'We see so many that are related to their families. Weddings and funerals, for example, home gatherings. And please don't take that wrong. I believe, especially at a time like this, we want to remain close to those we love.

'But we can get it from our family members and we have to have some degree of sensibility of being careful with our family members. Because they're the ones that it's like "Oh my gosh, I didn't think I could get it from them". 

'I think you have to remember that you can,' he said.