It is the highest number of cases reported in a single day since the pandemic began, surpassing the 17,608 cases reported on November 5, 2020.
There have been 2,021,302 total COVID cases, including 27,435 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.
The seven-day statewide test positivity rate is 8.6%.
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Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 223,281 new specimens for a total of 43,209,451 since the pandemic began.
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As of Wednesday night, 4,271 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 867 patients were in the ICU and 485 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Dr. Fauci speaks one-on-one with ABC7's Sarah Schulte
Dr. Fauci speaks one-on-one with ABC7's Sarah Schulte
A total of 18,853,953 vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois as of Wednesday, and 60.16% of the state's population is fully vaccinated. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 65,827.