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California reports record daily COVID-19 death toll of 764

January 22, 2021 GMT

FILE - This Jan. 12, 2021, file photo provided by the LA County Dept. of Medical Examiner-Coroner shows National Guard members assisting with processing COVID-19 deaths and placing them into temporary storage at LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner Office in Los Angeles in Los Angeles. More than 500 people are dying each day in California because of the coronavirus. The death toll has prompted state officials to send more refrigerated trailers to local governments to act as makeshift morgues. State officials said Friday they have helped distribute 98 refrigerated trailers to help county coroners store dead bodies. California reported 669 COVID-19 deaths, the second-highest daily death count, on Saturday, Jan. 16, and the nation's most populous county announced it had detected its first case of a more transmissible strain of the coronavirus. Public health authorities in Los Angeles County confirmed its first case of the variant of COVID-19 first detected in the United Kingdom. It was identified in a man who recently spent time in the county. (LA County Dept. of Medical Examiner-Coroner via AP, File)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California reported a one-day record of 764 COVID-19 deaths on Friday but the rate of new infections is falling.

The deaths reported by the California Department of Public Health top the previous mark of 708 set on Jan. 8. In the last two days California has recorded 1,335 deaths and the state’s overhaul total during the pandemic is nearing 36,000.

Hospitalizations and newly confirmed cases have been falling, however, and health officials are growing more optimistic that the worst of the latest surge is over.

The 23,024 new cases reported Friday are less than half the mid-December peak of nearly 54,000. In the last week the state averaged nearly 29,000 new cases per day, more than 6,000 fewer than the prior week.

The positivity rate for people being tested has dropped by 15% in the last week, which means fewer people will end up in hospitals. Hospitalizations have fallen below 20,000 statewide, a drop of more than 10% in two weeks.