The alarming number of new cases surpasses a record set just three days ago when California record 35,729 new cases.
The state now has 1,671,081 cases in total.
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Another 293 people died of the virus Tuesday, bringing California's death toll to 21,481, which marks the highest number of deaths in a single day.
Another 14,939 Californians remain hospitalized with the virus and 3,188 patients are in the ICU, marking the highest number of hospitalizations and intensive care patients to date.
The San Joaquin Valley region's ICU capacity was 1.6% as of Wednesday. See the latest ICU numbers here.
RELATED: California has refrigerators, body bags on standby as vaccine finally arrives
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that California is expecting another 393,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next week.
VIDEO: COVID vaccine side effects from various companies explained
COVID vaccine side effects from various companies explained
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