Los Angeles, Jan 17 (IANS): Los Angeles County has reported 66 new Covid-19 fatalities, a record high since April 2, 2021, raising its overall death toll to more than 28,000 since the pandemic began.

Its health department said in a statement that deaths from Covid-19 in the most populous US county had increased fourfold in just one week and "the majority of deaths reported this week are associated with individuals who became infected after December 20 when Omicron was circulating widely", reports Xinhua news agency.

"Daily hospitalisations also increased to 4,386, and the extraordinarily high number of new cases reflects worrisome rates of community transmission," the statement read.

The authority urged local residents to get vaccinated and boosted if they have not done so yet, as unvaccinated people are between two and four times more likely to get infected and 22 times more likely to die from the fatal disease than those fully vaccinated.