FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky reported the largest day-to-day increase in coronavirus cases Tuesday, spurred in large part because of widespread testing at a prison in western Kentucky.

Gov. Andy Beshear reported 309 of the 625 new cases Tuesday came from the Green River Correctional Complex in Muhlenberg County.

“It says that this is a concerning situation at that facility,” Beshear said.

Kentucky reported 399 people have tested positive at Green River: 342 inmates and 57 staff members. The state also believes a Green River inmate died from Covid-19 over the weekend, bringing the death toll up to three.

The state ordered everyone to be tested last week and all but 52 of the test results had come back by Tuesday’s update.

“What that means is we almost have a complete snapshot of the situation at Green River, which allows us to go ahead and truly plan for how to address that population down there,” executive cabinet secretary J. Michael Brown said.

The outbreak at Green River started March 25 when two staff members tested positive. On April 5, the first inmate tested positive.

Beshear defended the actions taken by the state when asked if the state waited too long to test everyone.

“I took the extra step of asking everybody to be tested,” Beshear said. “And I will tell you most other governors out there aren’t doing that at prisons.

The state will separate prisoners and staff at the complex into four areas:

• One will house people who test positive
• One will house those who test negative but were in close contact with others who tested positive
• One will house people who test negative and had minimal exposure
• One will house people who test negative and fall into risk categories

Beshear said there aren’t enough resources to have widespread testing at other prisons, but the state has more testing available now to deal with an outbreak if and when it happens somewhere else.