U.S. state California announced Monday that indoor activities at restaurants and museums would be closed statewide while other indoor operations including barbershops and hair salons in 30 of 58 counties would be closed as well.
According to the state government's official website, effective from July 13, all counties must close indoor operations in the sections including dine-in restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, card rooms, zoos and museums and family entertainment centers such as bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades.
Meanwhile, 30 counties, where 80 percent of California residents live, will now be required to close indoor business operations in fitness centers, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal care services, hair salons and barbershops, and malls.
California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted the announcements, saying the state made the decision because "COVID-19 cases continue to spread at alarming rates."
As of Monday, California had more than 326,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 7,000 total deaths, according to a tally by the Los Angeles Times.
The state' data monitoring system updated Monday showed that 109,910 new cases and 1,104 deaths have been reported in the past 14 days.
