State reports 1,453 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, 17 more deaths

State health authorities announced 1,453 new confirmed COVID-19 infections in Illinois Sunday, ending a run of four straight days of more than 2,000 new cases.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also confirmed 17 additional deaths from the coronavirus, the fewest since Sept. 28. Eleven of those deaths occurred in Cook County and another in DuPage County, according to the state.

With the new infections Sunday, the state has now reported 301,541 cases since the outbreak began and 8,791 deaths.

After hovering at 3.4% in recent days, the state's seven-day positive test rate dipped to 3.3% for the week of Sept. 27 to Oct. 3. State labs reported 51,656 in the previous 24 hours.

As of Saturday night, 1,521 people were hospitalized in Illinois with COVID-19, down from 1,535 the previous night. Of those patients, 384 were in an intensive-care unit - up from 361 Friday night - and 140 patients were on ventilators, the state reported.