Bars in Los Angeles ordered to close due to rebound of COVID-19 cases

LOS ANGELES - All bars in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States with a population of over 10 million, were ordered to shut down again due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

Seven counties in the state, including Los Angeles, must close their bars and eight more counties are recommended to do so, according to a mandate issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday.

"NEW: Due to the rising spread of #COVID19, CA is ordering bars to close in Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, San Joaquin, and Tulare, while recommending they close in Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, & Ventura," Newsom tweeted.

The governor released a statement later, saying it was a critical step to limit the spread of the virus as the counties were seeing the biggest increases of infections after the economy reopened.

The statement noted that public health professionals within California and throughout the nation had identified bars as the highest risk sector of non-essential business currently open because consumers hardly maintain social distance in bars and patients are hard to trace.

Newsom previously banned all bars and restaurants in California to open in mid-March at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a ban which was lifted last weekend.

Los Angeles County officials have reported significant increases in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and positive test results in recent days. On Sunday, the country added 2,542 COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths.

The county has tallied 97,894 cases and 3,305 deaths so far.