COVID-19 cases in most populous US county surge to highest levels: media

LOS ANGELES - COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, have surged to highest levels since summer wave, local media reported on Thursday, citing official data.

COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates have risen dramatically through the last half of November in Los Angeles County, reported the Los Angeles Times, the biggest newspaper on US West Coast.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Los Angeles County was reporting 11.9 new coronavirus-positive patients every week for every 100,000 residents. That's a 38 percent increase from last week's rate of 8.6, according to the report.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer was quoted as saying by another local news outlet, City News Service, that the county is now averaging more than 2,700 new COVID infections per day, a 180 percent increase since Nov 1, and daily virus-related hospital admissions are at 192 per day, a 200 percent jump since Nov 1.

Ferrer said that "there is this common line of thinking that the pandemic is over and COVID is no longer of concern, but these numbers clearly demonstrate that COVID is still with us," City News Service reported.

To date, the county has identified over 3.54 million positive cases, with 34,199 deaths since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in its Thursday update.