California becomes first US state to top 2 million Covid-19 cases

San Francisco - The Southern California region and San Joaquin Valley region in Central California are at zero available ICU capacity

California has become the first state in the US to surpass 2 million coronavirus cases since the onset of the pandemic earlier this year.

On Friday, the California Department of Public Health confirmed 39,070 new cases and 351 fatalities, which increased the overall tally to 2,003,146 and death toll to 23,635 in the most populous US state, reports Xinhua news agency.

There are 18,875 people with Covid-19 currently hospitalised in the state, and 3,962 of them are in intensive care units (ICU).

The seven-day positivity rate is 12.1 per cent and the 14-day positivity rate is 12.4 per cent, according to the Department.

Meanwhile, the 11-county Southern California region and the 12-county San Joaquin Valley region in Central California are at zero available ICU capacity.

The two regions are home to around 33 million people in the state, representing 84 per cent of the state's population.

ICU capacity in the Bay Area, Greater Sacramento Region and Northern California region has dropped to 9.24 per cent, 15.3 per cent and 27.5 per cent, respectively.

Based on current ICU data, San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, Greater Sacramento and the Bay Area are under the regional stay at home order.

These regions would remain in lockdown for at least three weeks and be eligible to exit the order only if ICU capacity projections for the following month are above or equal to 15 per cent, according to the state's authorities.

• USA