Pennsylvania’s acting health secretary said Tuesday the state will receive federal strike teams to “relieve hospital capacity strain in areas hit hardest by the latest covid-19 surge.”

Gov. Tom Wolf requested the help about two weeks ago. It wasn’t immediately known when the strike teams will arrive and which hospitals they will help.

A news release said “strike team placements will be determined by the federal government.”

“At this time, we do know that strike teams will be sent to the commonwealth and are working with our federal partners to identify and confirm exact locations and any additional resources,” Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter said in the news release.

As of Tuesday, Pennsylvania hospitals were caring for 4,648 covid-19 patients, about 120 more than a week ago.

Hospitalizations had begun to decline in some parts of Pennsylvania in the two weeks or so leading up to Christmas.

As of Monday, Penn State Health was caring for 165 adults and five children with covid-19, about the same as a week earlier.

Pennsylvania’s 14-day average of hospitalized covid-19 patients stood at 4,539 on Tuesday. Its all-time high 14-day average for covid-19 patients was just over 6,100 on Dec. 25, 2020.

The upturn in hospitalizations comes five days after Pennsylvania set a new daily record with nearly 14,000 new coid-19 infections, and as the more contagious omicron variant is likely becoming the dominant strain in the state.

Doctors say it often takes about a week until newly infected people become sick enough to end up in the hospital.

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