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CHICAGO - Illinois has recorded its highest single day of new COVID-19 cases this year as the Omicron variant begins to emerge in the state.
Public health officials reported 11,858 new cases on Thursday, eclipsing a previous high of 11,525 cases on Dec. 2.
Health officials on Thursday also reported 52 additional deaths related to coronavirus.
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The new cases were among 191,311 test results submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health within the past 24 hours.
The state's seven-day testing positivity rate is now at 5.9%, health officials reported.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Illinois has recorded 1,933,291 cases and 27,065 deaths tied to COVID-19.
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As of Wednesday night, 3,725 Illinoisans were hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 772 patients were in the ICU, and 391 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
A total of 18,403,906 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of Wednesday and 59.71% of the state's population has been fully vaccinated.