San Francisco, Dec 3 (IANS): California reported a record single-day increase of more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases, significantly surpassing the previous high of 18,350 set last week, health authorities said.

The California Department of Public Health confirmed 20,759 new cases on Wednesday, which increased the state's overall infection tally to 1,245,948, reports Xinhua news agency.

But officials said that "numbers do not represent true day-over-day change as these results include cases from prior to yesterday."

Also on Wednesday, an additional 113 fatalities were reported, increasing the state's death toll to 19,324.

California, home to around 40 million residents, became the second US state to reach the grim milestone of 1 million confirmed cases last month.

The state's seven-day positivity rate is 7.3 per cent and the 14-day positivity rate is 6.9 per cent, compared with 6.5 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively a week ago.

A total of 9,365 people in the state are currently hospitalized due to the virus. More than 2,100 of them are now in intensive care unit.

Officials said that "the state is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet -- faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic and this summer".

They noted that if the virus continues to spread at this rate, it could quickly overwhelm the state's health care system and lead to "catastrophic outcomes".