Los Angeles, Oct 13 (IANS): The Los Angeles Lakers, who won the 17th NBA title in its franchise history, decided to put off any public celebration to obey the social distancing guidelines issued by the local authority for the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We cannot wait to celebrate our NBA title with our fans," the Lakers tweeted Monday afternoon when the team returned to the city from Florida. "After consulting with the City and the County, we all agree that a joyful and inclusive public celebration will take place as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, thank you again, Lakers Nation, for your support!"

The Lakers beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, winning its first championship in a decade, Xinhua news agency reports.

The state of California issued a new social distancing guideline last Friday, prohibiting multiple gatherings of over three households in the same public park or other outdoor space at the same time.

Under the guideline from the California Department of Public Health, all private gatherings must limit the number of attendees and are required to be held outside. Moreover, the host of any gathering has to "collect names of all attendees and contact information in case contact tracing is needed later."

It also mandated face coverings to be worn at all times except when eating or drinking, and strongly discouraged singing, chanting and shouting at outdoor gatherings due to a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission.

According to the latest data from the state government, as of October 12, California has 850,028 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in 16,572 deaths. In the previous 24 hours, the new confirmed cases increased by 3,449 while the deaths went up by 8.

Due to the strict preventative measures, even though new coronavirus infections and fatalities have been spiking worldwide and across the United States, COVID-19 activity has stayed comparatively low in California, where most key figures are either slowly declining or flattening.