California Deaths Hit Record as U.S. Cases Soar: Virus Update

California, where the latest surge in the virus has filled hospitals and morgues, reported its worst day for fatalities so far. Arizona surpassed 10,000 deaths. North Carolina and Virginia reported a record number of new infections. The U.S. recorded its second-highest number of new cases on Friday.

The U.K. became the first country in western Europe to report more than 3 million coronavirus cases, as it grapples with a new strain that’s putting pressure on its health service.

Germany’s death toll exceeded 1,000 for a fourth straight day, as Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to speed up the pace of vaccinations. Queen Elizabeth II was vaccinated, and Pope Francis said he will get one.

• Global Tracker: Cases pass 89.5 million; deaths surpass 1.9 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 18.9 million shots given worldwide
• Connecticut outpaces New York in race to vaccinate residents
• Automakers are losing production as virus disrupts chip supplies
• Altering vaccine regimens endangers effectiveness, according to the EU regulator
• Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on coronavirus cases and deaths.

Austin, Texas is opening an “alternative care site” at its convention center as surging virus cases strain the area’s health care system.

Jason Pickett, deputy medical director for Austin Travis County, said in a tweet the center is being opened because “we believe that it is inevitable that the health care system in Central Texas will exceed capacity and will soon be overwhelmed.” The city said the center will be for patients who need less care to leave hospitals free for sicker patients.

Governor Andy Beshear announced that Kentucky had passed 300,000 Covid-19 cases as he pushed back on a state legislative effort to curb his powers to impose restrictions on businesses and schools. “This is not the time to hamper our ability to fight a deadly virus,” the Democratic governor said in a Facebook video on Saturday, in reference to a bill passed by the Republican-controlled legislature.

The state reported 4,240 new cases Saturday, which Beshear said represented a “difficult milestone in our war against Covid 19.” The state broke a record for new infections on Wednesday, with 5,742 cases. The rate of positive tests is the highest since May, he said. Another 20 people died.

Australia’s Queensland state recorded no new cases of coronavirus overnight as its capital city Brisbane remains in lockdown to prevent an outbreak after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel in the city was infected with the more transmissible U.K. strain, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters Sunday. Palaszczuk will provide an update Monday on whether the lockdown will lift later that evening as planned, she said.

Victoria state recorded no new cases of local transmission for the fourth consecutive day.

Brazil’s 14-day rolling average of new cases rose for a fifth consecutive day, approaching record levels reached in August, according to Health Ministry data.

The country with the third-most confirmed infections behind the U.S. and India added 62,290 cases in Saturday’s tally for a total of almost 8.1 million. Deaths rose by 1,171 to more than 202,000. Both trends have ticked up since the start of the year.

President Jair Bolsonaro asked India to expedite a shipment of AstraZeneca Plc’s coronavirus vaccine, the Health Ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Nevada ended its deadliest week with more than 300 fatalities, almost 100 more than the previous week. The state reported 56 deaths on Saturday, just below the record 60 on Wednesday. With total deaths at 3,450, the Las Vegas Sun reported that Clark County, the state’s most populous, has begun deploying refrigerated trailers to funeral homes.

California reported 695 new deaths, its worst day for fatalities so far, bringing the total to 29,233. The state added 52,636 new cases, with a total of 2.6 million. Only six countries have more infections.

The surge in cases is putting a strain on the state’s health-care system, where regions including Southern California have almost no ICU bed capacity.

Hospitalizations hovered near a high since the outbreak, while ICU capacity are at the lowest.

Virginia reported a record 5,798 cases on Saturday, as hospitalizations also reached a new high, state data show. Neighboring Maryland reported 3,758 cases, among the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. Total cases for Maryland surpassed 300,000.

France reported 20,177 new cases on Saturday, while the number of deaths increased by 171 to 67,599, according to statistics from the national health agency. While the government has been aiming to bring the number of daily new cases to below 5,000, they’ve been around four times that number most days in January, prompting officials to put more of the nation under an earlier curfew.

The government is accelerating the pace of its vaccination campaign after being criticized for a slow rollout.

Pope Francis said there is an “ethical” obligation to be vaccinated against Covid-19 — and that he will get one himself soon.

”I believe that ethically everyone must take the vaccine, it is an ethical option, because you stake your health, your life, but you also play the lives of others,” Pope Francis said in a prerecorded interview with the Italian broadcaster Mediaset. The pope said vaccinations will begin in the Vatican next week. “I have booked, it must be done,” he said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reported three additional cases of the more transmissible variant of the coronavirus first found in the U.K. Two are related to the first diagnosed case, a man in his 60s who lives in Saratoga County in upstate New York. The third is in Nassau County on Long Island, the governor said.

More than 50 cases have been found in half a dozen U.S. states and the number will grow — “bet on that,” Cuomo told reporters on a conference call on Saturday.

He said vaccine distribution has sped up, with 259,000 people getting the shots so far this week, compared to 148,000 last week.

The state reported 16,943 new cases, a drop after two record-breaking days. Hospitalizations and the rate of positive tests fell. Another 188 people died.

North Carolina reported 11,581 new cases on Saturday, breaking a record for the second time this week. Hospitalizations, which have soared as the state has become among the hardest hit in the virus’s recent wave, declined for a second day, state data show. Another 96 people died.

The U.K. became the first country in western Europe to report more than 3 million coronavirus cases, as it grapples with a new strain that’s putting pressure on its health service.

The country reported an additional 59,937 cases on Saturday, taking the total to 3,017,409. The total is the largest in Europe, and fifth-highest in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The country passed 1 million cases on Oct. 31, which doubled seven weeks later on Dec. 19. It took just three weeks to reach 3 million cases. It has recorded more than 50,000 cases every day since Dec. 29.

Arizona surpassed 10,000 fatalities amid a resurgence of the virus worse than the spike there last summer. Another 98 deaths were reported Saturday, two days after a record 297 fatalities. Hospitalizations are at an all-time high, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The state reported 11,094 new cases at the end of the week, which included a daily record of more than 17,000 new infections.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccinations at Windsor Castle, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.

The palace rarely comments of the private health matters of the Queen, 94, and her husband, 99.

Portugal on Saturday reported 9,478 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a day, less than the record 10,176 announced on Friday, taking the total to 476,187. Deaths rose by 111 to 7,701, following a record daily increase of 118 on Friday. The government has said it may tighten restrictions on movement next week.

Reports of a highly contagious new coronavirus variant in the U.S., published on Friday by multiple news outlets, are based on speculative statements made by Dr. Deborah Birx and are inaccurate, according to several government officials, the New York Times said.

The U.S. added another 287,771 new infections on Friday, the second-highest number on record, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The previous high of 299,087 was recorded on Jan. 2 and was considered inflated as states reported backlogged data from over the New Year holiday. The average number of cases rose more than 40,000 a day compared with the average of the previous week.

Another 3,595 people died on Friday, down from the record 4,102 set the previous day. On average, almost 400 more people died each day compared with the previous week’s average.