Los Angeles, Jan 7 (IANS): Los Angeles County, the most populous US, added 37,215 new Covis-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the highest single-day spike since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, local public health authorities said.

The County's Department of Public Health said in a statement that the latest figure, breaking the previous record of 27,091 set on December 31, is far higher than last winter's peak average of 16,000 cases per day, reports Xinhua news agency.

Currently, there are 2,661 people hospitalised in the county, and more than 17 per cent of those getting tested are positive for the virus.

So far, Los Angeles County, home to more than 10 million residents, has registered a total of 1,843,922 positive cases, while the death toll stood at 27,728.

Officials pointed out that those vaccinated and boosted continue to be protected from infections and severe illness, as they were almost four times less likely to get infected and 38 times less likely to be hospitalized than those who were unvaccinated.

"With thousands of newly infected people each day, we recognize the numerous new challenges we are all facing," said Barbara Ferrer, director of the department.

"Many services are strained, as workers are ill or quarantining, families are facing major disruptions trying to care for those infected or quarantining, and for countless residents, it is hard to get tested and to sort through the changing guidance," Ferrer said, adding that it would take a lot of effort to get through hardship.