The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s coronavirus death toll increased by more than 470 overnight, the agency announced Wednesday, citing further data reconciliation with multiple sources as the reason behind the spike.

Dr. Rachel Levine, health secretary, announced the adjustment at the start of her daily press briefing. Levine said the number of people who have died in Pennsylvania because of the novel coronavirus jumped from about 1,700 to nearly 2,200 between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

The 400-odd additional deaths were accumulated over days of reporting, Levine stressed.

“Our work to reconcile data from several sources regarding deaths among patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 continues,” she said. “Today’s update includes data matched from our electronic death reporting system over the last 10 days.”

Around this time last week, the Department of Health slashed its death toll by 201, saying probable deaths it had previously included had been ruled out upon further investigation.

Nate Wardle, Department of Health press secretary, said via email that as COVID-19 cases and related deaths slow, the agency hopes it can pinpoint figures that more closely resemble those being reported by county health departments and coroners.

“We are working to provide ­real-time data to the public with daily reporting of cases and deaths,” Wardle said. “Some of the reconciliation and behind-the-scenes data analysis that takes days and weeks is being done on a regular basis, and that can lead to fluctuations in the data.”

Wardle added that state epidemiologists and disease investigators use the National Electronic Data Surveillance System, while medical professionals and coroners use the Electronic Death Reporting System. “These two systems are separate,” Wadle wrote, “and reconciling the data between them takes time.”

In Northampton County, the Department of Health’s death data reconciliation was starkly represented in its toll; the county’s death total rose to 85, up from 55 reported the previous day.

Pennsylvania’s number of positive COVID-19 cases also increased by 1,102 Wednesday, bringing the statewide total to 44,366. Cases in Carbon County stand at 170, with 14 deaths being reported.

On Friday, the state plans to announce which four regions and counties will be allowed to move forward with Gov. Tom Wolf’s phased reopening, slated to begin May 8. Neither the governor nor Levine have made clear how the state’s restart will group counties into regions, though the Department of Health’s regional health map has been used as an example.

Levine noted Wednesday that once an area is moved from the red phase currently covering all 67 counties to the yellow, social distancing guidelines and wearing masks will still be necessary for mitigation.

“If we move too quickly,” Levine said, “we will see that more people will become sick, and more people will tragically pass away.”

“It is a staged process, and yellow actually means that we need to proceed with caution,” she said.