ORANGE COUNTY is close to advancing to the less restrictive “orange” tier from red (Shutterstock).

The news was almost all good in Tuesday’s numbers on the state of the coronavirus pandemic in Orange County.

According to the California Department of Public Health, Orange County is just one-tenth of a point away from qualifying for a move from the “red” (substantial) tier to the “orange” (moderate) tier and further loosening of the restrictions on business, education and recreation.

To qualify for orange, a county must have a rate of 3.9 or fewer new COVID-19 cases per day per 100,000 residents. Orange County comes close with 4.0. In the other two categories, the county already qualifies.

The test positivity rate must be 4.9 percent or less – the OC is at 2.2 percent. To meet the health equity positivity rate standard, a county must 5.3 percent or less, and the OC is at 3.5 percent.

As for Tuesday’s report from the Orange County Health Care Agency, there were significant improvements in all four categories.

The count of confirmed new cases tumbled from 169 on Monday to 23 Tuesday. Deaths went from 21 to zero, and hospitalizations due to the coronavirus dropped from 233 to 216.

Intensive care units occupied by COVID-19 patients decreased from 72 to 62.

Cumulative to-date cases in the county are now at 248,904, of which 239,857 are considered recovered.  Deaths are at 4,486.

Here is the list of OC cities with the most cases. Deaths are in parentheses.

• Santa Ana: 44,346 (789)
• Anaheim: 41,238 (790)
• Garden Grove: 16,312 (347)
• Orange: 11,659 (228)
• Fullerton: 11,144 (272)
• Huntington Beach: 10,402 (200)
• Irvine: 10,270 (79).

Westminster has had 7,029 cases and 178 deaths. Stanton has had 3,144 cases and 62 deaths.