In pictures: The coronavirus is devastating California
A patient rests in a corridor, waiting for a room at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, a hospital in Tarzana, California, on January 3.
Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty Images

In pictures: The coronavirus is devastating California

Updated 2032 GMT (0432 HKT) January 11, 2021

A patient rests in a corridor, waiting for a room at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, a hospital in Tarzana, California, on January 3.
Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty Images

California has become the epicenter of the current coronavirus surge in the United States.

As of Sunday, January 10, the state had 22,513 patients in the hospital being treated for Covid-19. Hospitals have been overwhelmed and morgues are beginning to overflow, especially in Southern California.

The coronavirus has claimed more than 30,000 lives in California since the pandemic began. More than 2.6 million people have been infected.

"If we continue to see an alarming increase of Covid-19 patient admissions at hospitals statewide, some facilities may not be able to provide the critical and necessary care Californians need, whether those patients have Covid-19 or another medical condition," said Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, California Department of Public Health director and state public health officer.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Gilberto Arreguin Camacho during his burial service in Whittier, California, on December 31. Camacho, 58, died because of Covid-19.
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Dr. Dan Ponticiello and Dr. Gabriel Gomez intubate a coronavirus patient at a hospital in Mission Viejo, California, on January 8.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
An emergency medical technician disinfects a gurney after transporting a Covid-19 patient in Orange, California.
Jae C. Hong/AP
People receive a Covid-19 vaccine at the Emerald Court senior-living community in Anaheim, California, on January 8.
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Refrigerated trailers are parked outside the office of the Los Angeles County coroner on January 10. They are acting as temporary morgues.
Kirby Lee/AP
Registered nurse Tricia Cook cares for a Covid-19 patient January 5 at the Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California.
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People wait in line at a Covid-19 testing site on the campus of California State University San Marcos on January 2.
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Thank-you letters are posted on a wall at the St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, on January 7.
Jae C. Hong/AP
Hawaii-bound travelers Vanna Truong and her 6-year-old son, Frey Das, wait in line for a Covid-19 test in Los Angeles on December 31. A lab is located across Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport, allowing Covid-19 tests to be administered and processed with results in three to five hours.
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An emergency medical technician packs up equipment after transferring a suspected Covid-19 patient to a field hospital tent outside the emergency department of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles on January 6.
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An empty casket is delivered to the Continental Funeral Home in Los Angeles on December 31.
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Refrigerated morgue trailers sit outside the office of the Los Angeles County coroner on January 6.
Bing Guan/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Dr. Thomas Yadegar walks inside a temporary emergency room that was built inside a parking garage at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, a hospital in Tarzana, California.
Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty Images
Motorists line up for Covid-19 testing at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium on January 4.
Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP