Illinois surpasses 1M coronavirus cases since pandemic began

Loss of taste and smell lingering with patients even after beating COVID-19

Dr. Delores Malaspina from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai talks about why some COVID-19 patients are still experiencing loss of taste and smell even after beating the virus.

Illinois health officials reported Thursday the state reached a somber milestone, surpassing 1 million cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

With the 8,757 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, Illinois has now recorded 1,008,045 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

The state also reported 177 additional confirmed COVID-19 deaths, raising that total to 17,272.

The latest daily number of COVID-19 infection was the result of 105,518 tests. The seven-day positivity for cases as a percent of total tests from Dec. 31, 2020 to Jan. 6 is 8.5 percent.

Public health officials report 3,921 people were hospitalized late Wednesday with COVID-19, with 783 patients in intensive care units and 450 patients on ventilators.