California is first state to pass 3m Covid cases

Figure arrived with stunning speed as southern and central California grapple with brutal outbreaks

California has become the first state to record more than 3m coronavirus infections, as it grapples with an unprecedented surge of cases that has left hospitals overwhelmed.

That remarkable figure, which comes from Johns Hopkins University, was not entirely unexpected for the nation's most populous state - but the speed at which it arrived has been stunning.