Confirmed virus cases hit another one-day high in Illinois

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois health officials on Saturday reported a one-day record for new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, adding 6,161 individual cases to the state total.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported that 63 more people have died of the virus, bringing the statewide total of deaths to 9,481 since the start of the pandemic. Illinois has reported 370,194 confirmed cases statewide since March.

The daily count of new confirmed cases can vary from one day to the next, but Illinois officials have warned in recent days that results show the the state is experiencing a second surge of the virus.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other officials have pleaded with people to wear face coverings and take other precautions while the state and the city of Chicago reinstated some economic restrictions in hopes of limiting the virus’ spread in some areas.

Illinois has dramatically increased the number of tests collected across the state since the spring. Saturday’s report included 83,517 test results, for instance.

But authorities remain concerned about a steady increase in the percentage of positive results among those results. On Saturday, the state reported that 6.1% of test results have been positive during the past seven days — up from 5.2% a week ago.