California reports highest single-day COVID-19 deaths

FILE PHOTO: People crowd the beach in Huntington Beach, California, the U.S., April 30, 2020. /AP

California, the new center of COVID-19 crisis in the United States, reported its highest daily rise in deaths on Friday, one day after the state saw a grim new peak in its daily death toll.

There were 159 COVID-19-related deaths in the previous 24 hours, marking back-to-back record days, according to update.covid19.ca.gov, the official website of the California government. On Thursday, the state reported 157 new COVID-19 deaths, a single-day high for the nation's most populous state.

However, California Governor Gavin Newsom did not mention this number neither at his daily online news conference, nor in his twitter message.

"New cases: 9,718, 7-day average: 9,881, Average positivity rate for tests: 7.5%, A lot of numbers that tell us one thing: take this seriously. We can't let up. It takes all of us -- acting TOGETHER -- to slow the spread. WEAR A MASK," Newsom tweeted Friday.

In his daily briefing, Newsom spent much of his time outlining new protection regulation for essential workers including cooks, construction workers, nurses, cashiers, truck drivers, farm workers and many others.

Newsom announced on Wednesday a new contract with China's BYD Company to produce 120 million N95 respirators and 300 million surgical masks, saying "providing front-line workers with the protective equipment they need is critical to our state's response to COVID-19."

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency