Watch: Gov. Whitmer provides update on COVID-19 in Michigan

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer provided an update Thursday on the handling of COVID-19 in the state.

• 7 takeaways from Whitmer’s COVID update: Michigan sports, variant spread, metrics

Whitmer was joined by Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel.

The briefing began at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. You can watch the full replay in the video above.

Restaurants reopened Monday (Feb. 1) for the first time since mid-November, though they are under strict capacity and curfew regulations.

A new variant of COVID-19 -- B117 -- has also been confirmed in Washtenaw and Wayne counties. This variant spreads more rapidly and caused a two-week shutdown of the entire University of Michigan athletic department.

On Thursday, state officials announced 1,358 new COVID-19 cases and 74 additional deaths. Michigan has now confirmed 565,251 cases and 14,778 deaths since the start of the pandemic.