Daily US Times: Large parts of California are facing a strict new coronavirus lockdown, as Covid cases surge across the state and the US.
According to Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement on Thursday, more than half of the state’s 40 million people will be subject to a stay-at-home order.
People will be banned from meeting anyone outside their household and many businesses will be closed.
The decision was triggered by intensive care capacity in hospitals shrinking.
The southern part of California and its central valley will be the first areas to come under the new restrictions at 23:59 local time on Sunday.
Other areas could follow the restrictions within days. San Francisco will have its own local lockdown in an attempt to contain the virus also starting on Sunday.
California’s Covid-19 lockdown in March, in which all non-essential businesses were closed, was seen as an early model for the US at the beginning of the cornavirus pandemic.
The measures come after the United States reported on Saturday a record number of Covid-19 cases in 24 hours for the third day in a row – 230,000.
Government data shows 2,527 deaths were recorded in the same period. For the past two weeks, the United States has regularly seen more than 2,000 deaths a day, similar to the early days of the pandemic.
The surge could be partly down to last week’s Thanksgiving holiday, when millions of Americans travelled across the country.
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