U.S. most populous county reports highest daily COVID-19 deaths since April 2021-Xinhua

U.S. most populous county reports highest daily COVID-19 deaths since April 2021

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-01-16 17:27:29

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Los Angeles County on Saturday reported 66 COVID-19 deaths, a daily record high since April 2 of last year, raising its overall death toll to more than 28,000 since the pandemic began.

Its health department said in a statement that deaths from COVID-19 in the most populous U.S. county had increased fourfold in just one week and "the majority of deaths reported this week are associated with individuals who became infected after Dec. 20 when Omicron was circulating widely."

"Daily hospitalizations also increased to 4,386, and the extraordinarily high number of new cases reflects worrisome rates of community transmission," the statement read.

The authority urged local residents to get vaccinated and boosted if they have not done so yet, as unvaccinated people are between two and four times more likely to get infected and 22 times more likely to die from the fatal disease than those fully vaccinated.