San Diego County public health officials Monday reported 401 new COVID-19 infections and 10 deaths, as the state prepares for the omicron variant.
The omicron variant has now been detected in Canada after first being identified in South Africa and then in Europe.
Canadian health officials said Sunday that two cases of the variant were detected in Ontario.
"California is closely monitoring the new omicron variant, which has not yet arrived in California or the U.S.," state Public Health Director Tomas Aragon said Sunday.
"Vaccines continue to be our best way through the pandemic by safely protecting us against severe illness from COVID-19 and its variants. We are doubling down on our vaccination and booster efforts to ensure that all Californians have access to safe, effective and free vaccines that can prevent serious illness and death."
Monday's data increases the cumulative totals to 384,193 infections and 4,335 deaths. There were 173 cases reported on Sunday, 663 on Saturday, just 15 on Friday owing to the Thanksgiving holiday the day before and 514 new infections reported to the county on Thursday.
The county Health and Human Services Agency did not report data over the weekend due to the holiday.
The number of COVID patients hospitalized in San Diego County increased slightly, rising from 270 to 272, according to the latest state figures.
Of those patients, 83 were in intensive care, unchanged from Sunday.
The number of residents who have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine is now nearly 2.64 million — or 84% of residents age 5 and older, according to the county.
More than 2.35 million people, or 74.7% of residents 5 and older, are fully vaccinated. Roughly 414,814 San Diego County residents 18 years of age or older have received a booster dose.
