OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – State health leaders say they are in process of submitting its final COVID-19 data for 2021 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials say all states are required to submit final numbers of cases and deaths by specific dates, which are set by the CDC.

“We want to make sure that we are doing our due diligence to assure our cases and deaths are accurately reported to the CDC,” said Jolianne Stone, the state’s Epidemiologist.

Officials with the Oklahoma State Department of Health say there will be an increase of 267 COVID-19 deaths and 1,354 COVID-19 cases following epidemiology investigations.

Experts say the deaths added to the state’s epidemiology death count have already been accounted for in the CDC’s provisional death total.

“Our team has worked to do thorough investigations into Oklahoma death certificates where COVID-19 is listed,” said Stone. “We utilize multiple data points, like the death certificates and the national case definition, to make sure we are categorizing a death appropriately.”