LOS ANGELES (AP) - California started the new year by reporting a record 585 coronavirus deaths in a single day.

The state Department of Public Health said Friday there were more than than 47,000 new confirmed cases reported, bringing the total to more than 2.29 million.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's office says California will begin collaborating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate and upgrade outdated oxygen delivery systems at six Los Angeles area hospitals.

The deployment comes at a time when hospitals across the L.A. region are treating an unprecedented number of Covid-19 patients and the internal oxygen delivery systems build into many older hospitals are being overtaxed by the volume of oxygen flow required to treat patients with respiratory issues that arise from Covid-19.

Action News Now asked a spokesperson from the state Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES) if any of this type of work on oxygen delivery systems needs to happen in Northern California as well.

We were told that CAL OES is not currently aware of any similar issues in the north of the state. The issue, they confirmed, is aging pipes and issues with mechanical infrastructure.

Brian Ferguson from CAL OES said, "Should it become an issue elsewhere the state could use this same tactic in other locations."

California this week became the third state to exceed 25,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Most of California remains under stay-at-home orders as the state keeps assessing current ICU bed availability. The numbers for Friday show that there are still no ICU beds available in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley.

6.3% of the ICU beds in the Bay Area are still available.

In the North State, Great Sacramento is now showing the availability of 11.1% of their ICU beds.  In the Northern California Region 33.3% of their ICU beds are available.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press)