Illinois tops more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for 3rd straight day

Illinois health officials Saturday reported 1,195 new cases of the coronavirus, marking the third day in a row that daily tallies have exceeded 1,000, a stretch not seen since May.

Officials also reported another 24 deaths attributed to COVID-19, raising the state’s death toll to 7,168, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The newly confirmed cases raise the state’s total case count to 152,962. So far this month, an average of about 888 new cases have been reported each day.

The latest cases were confirmed among the 32,345 tests conducted in the last day.

The statewide positivity rate for cases in the last week was 3%.

Daily case totals have inched upward since a nearly three-month low of 462 reported on June 22. The slow rise has been attributed by public health officials to an increase in testing.

Illinois’ deadliest month for the coronavirus was May, with a daily average of about 2,172 cases and 100 deaths.

As of Friday night, 1,398 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19, including 321 in the ICU and 139 on ventilators, according to the state health department.