Illinois reports 1,381 new confirmed COVID-19, 8 deaths

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday reported 1,381 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in eight confirmed deaths.

The latest reported fatalities bring the statewide death toll due to the virus to 8,179 since the start of the pandemic. There have been 250,961 confirmed coronavirus cases during the same period.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 28,975 tests of specimens for a total of 4,447,347 tests conducted in Illinois. That brings the seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a percent of total tests to 4.2%.

Heading into the Labor Day weekend National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci said Illinois and a half-dozen other states with increasing COVID-19 numbers are at risk for a surge in cases over the holiday.

As of late Sunday, 1,484 people in Illinois were reported hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 352 patients were in intensive care units and 137 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.