Public health officials in Los Angeles County on Tuesday reported the highest daily increase of 4,015 new COVID-19 cases, with new hospitalizations steadily climbing in the most populous U.S. county with a population of over 10 million.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also confirmed 46 new COVID-19 deaths in a daily update. So far, 120,539 cases and 3,579 deaths have been registered across the county.
Officials noted that the high number of new cases are partly due to a backlog of about 2,000 test results received from one lab that just submitted results from July 2 through July 5.
Of the 1,969 people currently hospitalized statewide, 27 percent were in the ICU and 18 percent on ventilators.
Hospitalization numbers remain substantially higher than three weeks ago. In mid-June, daily hospitalizations ranged between 1,350 and 1,450, while the figures have steadily increased to over 1,900 since July 1, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
"Everyone shares the collective responsibility to slow the spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 to save lives," said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
