Los Angeles, Dec 29 (IANS): On an average, nine to 10 people in Los Angeles County, the most populous in the US, test positive for novel coronavirus every minute, local health officials said.

The county's Department of Public Health reported 13,661 new cases and 73 more fatalities on Monday, pushing its cumulative cases up to 733,325 with 9,555 related deaths, Xinhua news agency reported.

Recently, the Los Angeles County has been recording over 13,000 positive cases a day, with some days over 15,000, while it just saw an average of about 1,200 cases some days before the current surge began 58 days ago, said the Department.

There are 6,914 Covid-19 patients currently hospitalised in the county, with 20 per cent of them in the intensive care units.

Since November 9, average daily hospitalisations of Covid-19 patients have increased by more than 670 per cent, and average daily deaths have increased 600 per cent, from 12 a day in early-November to 84 a day in mid-December, according to the Department.