LA crosses grim milestone of 25,000 Covid deaths

Los Angeles, Aug 20 Los Angeles has crossed a grim milestone of more than 25,000 Covid-19 deaths with a daily count of 35 fatalities, local health authorities said.

The most populous county in the US home to over 10 million residents, also reported 3,239 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall tally since the start of the pandemic to 1,362,848 positive cases with 25,002 related deaths, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The Department said that there were 1,790 people with Covid-19 currently hospitalised in the county in California and 23 per cent of them are in the intensive care units, reports Xinhua news agency.

The county's seven-day cumulative case rate is now 204.2 new cases per 100,000 residents, which represents a 5 per cent increase from last week. Between July 11 and August 11, hospitalisations rose by 333 percent to an average of 1,622 beds filled with people testing positive on any given day, and deaths rose 275 per cent to an average of 15 deaths per day, said the Department.

County health officials noted they are monitoring school cases in outbreaks among staff and students as many school districts countywide are reopening this week.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that the state would implement first-in-the-nation measure to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated as schools return from summer break amid the Delta variant spread.

"It is with much sorrow that we mark this devastating milestone of 25,000 deaths in our County. This virus continues to cause debilitating and dangerous illness among many who are infected," Barbara Ferrer, the county's director of public health, said.

"Losses we suffer now are particularly sad because almost all of them are preventable with extremely safe and widely available vaccine," she added, urging people to act with a sense of urgency to reduce community transmission as quickly as possible.

Official data showed that around 63 per cent of nearly 10.3 million Los Angeles County residents have received at least one dose, and 55 per cent have been fully vaccinated.

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