Illinois COVID cases: IL reports 7,068 new cases, 78 deaths

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois public health officials reported 7,068 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 78 related deaths Tuesday.

It is the most deaths reported for a single day since 102 deaths were reported on February 11.

The first case of the omicron variant was detected in Chicago Tuesday afternoon, health officials said. The patient is fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot, was not hospitalized and their condition is improving.

READ MORE: 1st case of omicron variant detected in Chicago

There have been 1,861,254 total COVID cases, including 26,698 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

RELATED: Minnesota reports 2nd US case of omicron COVID-19 variant in resident who traveled to New York City

The seven-day statewide test positivity rate is 5.5%.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 174,247 new specimens for a total of 40,237,790 since the pandemic began.

Illinois health officials are concerned about the spreading omicron variant, but with COVID cases rising it is not their main concern when addressing the state's response.

As of Monday night, 3,029 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 610 patients were in the ICU and 272 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

SEE ALSO: All vaccinated adults should get COVID-19 booster shot because of omicron variant, CDC says

A total of 17,768,693 vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois as of Monday, and 58.84% of the state's population is fully vaccinated. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 69,951.

Please note: The video at the top of this story is from a previous report