COVID-19 death toll in U.S. California exceeds 60,000

A man enjoys sunshine with his dog at a street corner in Millbrae, San Mateo County, California, the United States, March 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

California on Thursday will formally open vaccinations to all residents 16 and older, but many local jurisdictions are moving faster.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. state of California has exceeded 60,000, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Sunday.

The state recorded the pandemic milestone of 60,015 fatalities as of Saturday. There were 3,673,398 cases in California. A total of 427,349 cases occurred in the Bay Area, including 6,053 deaths, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Coronavirus Tracker.

California on Thursday will formally open vaccinations to all residents 16 and older, but many local jurisdictions are moving faster. In the Bay Area, those include Contra Costa County and select ZIP codes in San Francisco and Alameda counties.

Many Bay Area churches have opened vaccination clinics to serve communities that have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the Chronicle report said.

These include Black, Latino, and Pacific Islander neighborhoods where people may have limited access to arrange vaccinations elsewhere.