California death toll from Covid-19 tops 50,000 after winter surge

• Most populous US state has highest most coronavirus deaths
• LA county health director: It is heartbreaking'

California's Covid-19 death toll rose above 50,000 on Wednesday, after Los Angeles county reported another 806 deaths during the winter surge.

The county, which has a quarter of the state's 40 million residents, said the deaths mainly occurred between 3 December and 3 February. The department of public health identified them after going through death records that were backlogged by the sheer volume of the surge's toll.