NJ Gov. Phil Murphy provides updates on coronaviruses. How to watch live today. (December 4, 2020)

Gov. Phil Murphy will hold a 1 p.m. press conference on Friday to provide more updates on the state’s efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak, which has led to at least 615 confirmed deaths in New Jersey during the month latest.

The rally at the George Washington Ballroom at the Trenton War Memorial will be televised live on the Governor’s YouTube.com channel.

State Police Superintendent Colonel Pat Callahan and State Epidemiologist Dr. Christina Tan will also appear. State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli continues to self-isolate at her Mercer County home after a staff member in her office tested positive late last month. She will be working from home until December 8.

There were 3,315 patients in the state’s 71 hospitals with the coronavirus or a suspected case as of 10 p.m. Thursday, an increase of 23 from 3,292 in the previous 24-hour period. According to the state scorecard, 615 patients are receiving intensive care and 386 on ventilators.

Murphy on Thursday reported 4,913 more cases of COVID-19 and 64 more deaths. The 4,913 new positive tests are the largest since the outbreak began in March, although the scarcity of testing in the spring likely underestimated the scale of the initial outbreak. The previous high was 4,679 on November 21.

New Jersey has had 350,999 total cases out of 6.2 million tests administered. The state has now reported 17,209 deaths from COVID-19 – 15,373 confirmed and 1,836 probable.

The state has reported 281 confirmed deaths in the past seven days – more than the number of confirmed deaths reported for the entire months of September (178) and October (231). New Jersey had 615 confirmed deaths in November.

Earlier Friday, Murphy made two television appearances – on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and on WPIX-11.

Matt Arco, editor-in-chief of NJ Advance Media, contributed to this report. Jeff Goldman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @JGoldmanNJ. Find NJ.com is Facebook.

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