Michigan reports 111 new virus deaths as cases near 24,000

Michigan has reported 111 new deaths from COVID-19, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to nearly 1,400 as its confirmed coronavirus cases approached 24,000. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, meanwhile, announced Saturday that 13 new or expanded COVID-19 drive-through testing sites would begin operating around the state under a plan to increase the state’s daily testing by about 40 percent. The state Department of Health and Human Services reports that the new deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, had brought the state’s death toll to 1,392. Michigan had another 1,210 confirmed coronavirus cases, boosting the state’s total to 23,993.  (AP)