Los Angeles County public health officials reported 1,465 new cases of the coronavirus and 93 related deaths on Sunday, noting that the number of cases is usually lower on weekends because not all labs report results.
Still, the continued decline in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths suggests that the county is turning the corner from a vicious fall and winter wave that killed about 12,000 people. The province has reported a total of more than 1.1 million coronavirus cases and nearly 20,000 related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
There were 2,213 COVID-19 patients in provincial hospitals on Saturday, a decrease of nearly 46% from two weeks before, when there were 4,079 patients.
Orange County has seen similar trends, reporting 252 new cases of the virus, 40 related deaths and 577 hospitalized patients Sunday, down about 45% from two weeks earlier.
Health officials have urged people to remain vigilant about observing safety precautions as several variants of the virus are circulating in Southern California, including the one that showed up in the UK and is believed to be 50% more transmissible.
At the same time, efforts to vaccinate people in California, as in other states, have been slow due to scarce supplies and weather-related delays, forcing the temporary shutdown of several large-scale distribution sites over the weekend, including that of the city of Los Angeles such as Dodger Stadium, and the Disneyland site in Orange County.
All six locations managed by the city of Los Angeles will reopen on Tuesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted Sunday. Those who had postponed appointments on Friday or Saturday will be moved and notified on Monday, he wrote.