San Francisco, Dec 6 (IANS): California will enter a new stay-at-home order on Sunday night, as its many parts have hit the 15 per cent or lower threshold for intensive care unit (ICU) capacity amid a continued spike in the number of new Covid-19 cases, health authorities said.
Based on the latest ICU data, the 11-county Southern California region which includes Los Angeles County, and San Joaquin Valley region in Central California, have dropped below 15 pe rcent ICU capacity, Xinhua news agency quoted the Department of Public Health as saying in a statement on Saturday.
It noted that the regional stay-at-home order will take effect in those two regions at 11.59 p.m. on Sunday and will remain in effect for at least three weeks.
The two regions are home to around 27 million people in the most populous state in the US with a population of around 40 million.
In response to the recent rapidly increasing number of new cases and hospitalizations from the virus, California Governor Gavin Newsom on December 3 announced plans for the regional stay-at-home order to contain the pandemic based on hospital capacity.
According to the department, California has so far reported 1,311,625 confirmed coronavirus cases and 19,791 fatalities.