Los Angeles County surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases this weekend since the start of the pandemic, reporting the first case of the more contagious variant initially discovered in the UK last year.
On Saturday, the province registered more than 14,000 cases and about 253 deaths and 7,597 hospitalizations, statistics from the country’s public health department show.
The numbers push Los Angeles to the highest county in the country in terms of COVID-19 cases, more in total than the next two counties, Cook and Maricopa, combined.
Although California was one of the strictest states in the nation in implementing restrictions, it has continued to see an increase in the number of cases over the past two weeks, with an average of more than 41,000 new cases of coronavirus per day
While California has the second highest number of deaths in the country, the state ranks 39th in deaths per capita with 81.8.
The grim prediction contrasted with a cheerful press conference held Friday by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Governor Gavin Newsom at Dodger Stadium, which is being converted into a vaccination center capable of administering 12,000 doses per day.
California has received more than 3.5 million doses of the vaccine and administered just over 1 million doses. Newsom said the state was on track to exceed its goal of dispensing about 1.5 million doses by Friday.
The governor tried to shed light on encouraging trends: Hospitalizations, intensive care admissions, and positivity rates – the percentage of people tested who have the virus – have all declined in the past seven days.
Fox News has contacted Governor Newsom’s news agency with a request for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
The governor’s Friday message was in stark contrast to his warning early last month that regionally strict lockdown measures would be taken if IC bed capacity falls below 15%. Days later, Los Angeles County was given new lockdown orders.
Meanwhile, the county public health department confirmed the first case of the COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.7, in a person who recently spent time in Los Angeles County.
Although it was the first confirmed case of the variant in the province, public health officials believe it is likely already spreading in the community and are continuing to test samples.
The public health service reiterated the basic safety guidelines of COVID-19 to prevent the spread of variant B.1.1.7, which they say spreads faster than other variants, but does not necessarily cause more serious illness or an increased risk of death.
Louis Casiano and Fox News’ Associated Press contributed to this report.