SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Friday 77 additional fatalities related to COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths to 6,260.
Health department officials also reported 595 new known coronavirus cases, lifting the statewide total to 131,198. It is the first time the daily number of new infections has fallen below 600 since March 30.
Health officials said more than 1.1 million people have been tested in Illinois. The state is also reporting an additional 181 deaths and 861 non-fatal infections were “probable” cases of COVID-19, though lab tests weren’t performed.
Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the city of Chicago accounts for more than a third of the statewide figures, with 2,359 coronavirus deaths among 48,924 overall cases. One in 12 Chicago residents have been tested for COVID-19, while one in 57 has tested positive and one in 1,200 has died, she said.
An average of 18 Chicagoans are dying of the coronavirus per day, along with 232 new cases confirmed daily, Arwady said. However, she said the city is showing “very good progress” coming down form a peak in early May.
“If people can hang in there and keep doing the things that we know work, the things that have given us the progress that we saw in the month of May, we will be okay to continue that cautious reopening carefully,” she said.
Arwady said she expects the city to advance to the next phase of reopening from the coronavirus shutdown on July 1.
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