CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois has 30,386 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed statewide. The figure that public health officials announced Thursday smashed by more than 9,000 the previous state record for new cases in a day and nearly doubling the high from last fall’s surge.

Also on Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association urged hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries and other procedures to free up beds for a likely surge of post-holiday Omicron variant cases.