COVID-19. On Monday, health officials recorded 2,108 new cases of the illness, bringing the total caseload since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic to 179,093.The number of hospitalizations continued its steady climb with 38 more patients requiring care in the last 24 hours for a total of 1,048 COVID-19 patients in hospital.
Of those, 146 are in the intensive care unit, unchanged since Sunday.Health officials added 30 new deaths on Monday, bringing the grim total to 7,766.
Of the 30 deaths, two are said to have taken place in the last 24 hours, 27 took place between Dec. 14 and Dec. 19 and one before Dec.