WATCH: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot gives update on coronavirus response

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave an update on the city’s response to the novel coronavirus on April 7.

Watch Mayor Lightfoot’s remarks in the player above.

More than 12,000 Illinois residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, and more than 300 people have died from it. The majority of deaths have been concentrated in the Chicago metro area, where black residents have been overwhelmingly affected.

Although black residents account for 30 percent of Chicago’s population, they have accounted for 72 percent of the city’s deaths from COVID-19 thus far. The mayor announced an aggressive public health campaign yesterday in response to these disparities, saying “We can’t simply stand by and let this disease wreak havoc in our communities.”