Springfield, Ill. (AP) — Illinois public health officials reported 97 deaths Thursday from COVID-19, pushing total pandemic fatalities past 10,000. That grim total was accompanied by another — a single-day record of 9,935 fresh infections from the highly contagious and potentially deadly coronavirus. The daily total outpaced the previous record, set Saturday, by 26%. Since an autumn surge of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has hammered Illinois, the eight highest daily totals of newly contracted cases have occurred in the last eight days.
