LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Los Angeles County on Monday reported 31,576 new COVID-19 cases, nearly 10 times the 3,360 new daily cases reported on Dec. 17, 2021, said the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The department also reported 27 additional deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the county's accumulative caseload and death toll to 2,289,045 and 28,086, respectively.

A total of 4,564 people with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized in the most populous U.S. county, nearly six times the number from one month ago when 772 people were hospitalized, the department said in a daily release.

The daily positivity rate in the county is 16.5 percent, more than eight times the 2 percent daily positivity rate on Dec. 17, the daily release said.

"On this national holiday where we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, we remember his deep commitment to health equity. As Reverend King memorably said, 'Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death,'" Barbara Ferrer, the county's director of public health, noted in the release.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday to honor the civil rights leader's legacy of justice and equality.

"Tragically, we have seen this play out in real life and very clearly over the past two years with the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people of color. From the onset of the pandemic, communities of color have experienced the greatest devastation from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County and throughout the nation," she added.

Ferrer urged people to come together to address the impact that racism, historical disinvestment, and social marginalization have on COVID-19 outcomes, noting that "without deliberate collective actions to address the root causes of health inequities, we are unlikely to close the gaps we have documented for two long years." Enditem

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