COLUMBUS — More infectious and more deadly variants of the COVID-19 virus are expected to be ascendant in coming weeks, but vaccinations are also climbing.

DeWine said coronavirus cases are surging, with 2,742 new cases reported in Ohio in the last 24 hours and a 21-day reported case average of 1,801. There are 111 Ohioans newly hospitalized with the virus and a total of 1,193 infected people hospitalized across the state.

“We continue to see a significantly higher number in cases,” the governor said Thursday. “ICU admissions are up. Not dramatically.”

“We’re moving now in the wrong direction,” he said during his broadcast on the Ohio Channel.

The statewide average is 183.7 infected people per 100,000 residents.

DeWine had said all health restrictions would be removed when Ohio is at 50 infected people per 100,000. Early this month, the rate was 167.1 per 100,000.

“We’re going away from our goal of 50. We’re not seeing the runaway caseload occurring (as in the fall),” he said. “We can turn this around if more people continue to get vaccinated. This is a race. We are in a race, and it’s a life-or-death race.”

Bruce Vanderhoff, chief medical officer for the Ohio Department of Health, reported on the increase of coronavirus variants, which he said are driving the surge. He said the B117 United Kingdom variant and two California variants are all more contagious and more deadly than the original form of the virus, and they account for more than 95 percent of variant detection in the state.

“Our variant counts jumped from 92 back on March 12 to 797 today. That’s a doubling time every nine to 10 days, which is very similar to what they saw this winter in the United Kingdom,” he said, noting that while the vaccination program may blunt this he expects the variants to be the dominant form of the virus soon.

“Quite frankly, within the next couple of weeks I think the variant will be the virus that we are dealing with,” he said.

Talk also turned to the potential impact of the virus on children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in rare cases.

“Children certainly are not immune,” DeWine said.

Dustin Fleck, pediatric rheumatologist and division chief of Rheumatology at Dayton Children’s Hospital, said the condition is not associated with active infections but develops two to four weeks after infection.

“It’s an abnormal immune response usually characterized by fever, significant inflammation throughout the body, specifically targeting the heart,” he said, adding that the liver, lungs, kidneys and brain also can be impacted. He said 166 cases have occurred among Ohio children since the pandemic’s onset. Without a vaccine for younger children, precautions and sanitary measures are recommended.

“Although the risks of MSI are still low, it’s still present,” Fleck said.

Ohioans are also being vaccinated against the virus.

“Today we have crossed over one-third of all Ohioans have now received their first dose of the vaccine,” he said.

DeWine also said the mass vaccination site at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, conducted in partnership with the federal government, is in its fourth week of operation. It is an eight-week program, and the remaining weeks will provide second doses. Johnson and Johnson vaccines administered as single doses will also be available. The other versions of the vaccine, Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna, require people to have two doses about a month apart.

DeWine said there are about 1,300 vaccination sites across the state, not counting mass vaccination locations. More information about registration and available clinics can be found at gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov and 833-427-5634.

Ohio is now in the second week of eligibility for residents age 16 and older to get the shot. DeWine said increasing vaccinations is central to stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Starting this Monday, vaccine providers also will begin partnering with businesses and organizations to hold “closed pod” vaccination clinics for employees and members.

“It might be a church. It might be a labor union. It might be a business who wants to vaccinate their members in one location,” DeWine said.

In Belmont County, Deputy Health Commissioner Robert Sproul said there have been 5,787 cases since the pandemic’s onset, with 314 people either isolated with active cases or hospitalized. There have been 5,363 recoveries and 110 have died after contracting the virus.