More than 1,200 Connecticut residents tested positive for COVID-19, out of approximately 3,400 tests, according to figures released by the state Department of Public Health Monday afternoon. 

Overall, 26,686 residents were tested for the disease, with 6,906 of them having tested positive to date. Statewide, there are 1,221 hospitalizations of patients currently being treated for COVID-19. 

Officials reported 17 new COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the state’s total to 206 deaths as of Monday afternoon. 

How many of those deaths were the direct result of COVID-19, and were not caused by other health conditions, was a question officials were not able to answer Monday. 

Gov. Ned Lamont, during a teleconferenced briefing with reporters said the latest number of COVID-19-positive results “really is a reflection of the number of tests we’ve had.”

The governor said of real interest to him were the numbers of new hospitalizations and fatalities — 79 and 17 — related to the disease. 

Those numbers, Lamont said, are “not going up exponentially.”

“That gives us the capacity to plan… Our healthcare system is bending but not breaking,” he said. 

mgagne@record-journal.com203-317-2231Twitter:@MikeGagneRJ