SAN DIEGO — Facing a steep surge of new COVID-19 cases in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday that he is ordering bars to close in seven counties and recommending closures in several others.
Newsom made the announcement on Twitter hours after the state reported 5,972 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.
"NEW: Due to the rising spread of #COVID19, CA is ordering bars to close in Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, San Joaquin, and Tulare, while recommending they close in Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, & Ventura," Newsom tweeted at 12:17 p.m. local time.
NEW: Due to the rising spread of #COVID19, CA is ordering bars to close in Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, San Joaquin, and Tulare, while recommending they close in Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, & Ventura.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 28, 2020
Newsom's order comes as daily reports fo new COVID-19 cases are reaching their highest levels in the U.S. since the pandemic began. There were at least 40,000 new cases recorded on Thursday, Friday and Saturday — all of which beat previous highs from April.
Worldwide, there have been 10 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
This story was originally published by KGTV in San Diego.