California breaks records with more than 53,000 new COVID-19 cases, 293 deaths on Tuesday

The alarming number of new cases surpasses a record set just three days ago when California record 35,729 new cases.

ByKayla Galloway KGO logo
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
The latest videos about coronavirus in the US
Here's a look at the latest videos about novel coronavirus and the spread in the U.S. and across the world.California is the first U.S. state to treat Covid as endemic but are we there yet? ABC7 News explains the difference between a pandemic, epidemic and endemic.

SAN FRANCISCO -- California reported a record-breaking 53,711 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest number of cases the state has seen in a single day since the pandemic began.

The alarming number of new cases surpasses a record set just three days ago when California record 35,729 new cases.

The state now has 1,671,081 cases in total.

RELATED: Valley Children's administers COVID-19 vaccine to hospital healthcare workers

Another 293 people died of the virus Tuesday, bringing California's death toll to 21,481, which marks the highest number of deaths in a single day.

Another 14,939 Californians remain hospitalized with the virus and 3,188 patients are in the ICU, marking the highest number of hospitalizations and intensive care patients to date.

The San Joaquin Valley region's ICU capacity was 1.6% as of Wednesday. See the latest ICU numbers here.

RELATED: California has refrigerators, body bags on standby as vaccine finally arrives

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that California is expecting another 393,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next week.

VIDEO: COVID vaccine side effects from various companies explained

Here's what side effects you can expect from different COVID-19 vaccines, what the response means, and how you can treat your symptoms at home.

For more news coverage on the coronavirus and COVID-19 go to ABC30.com/coronavirus