California has now recorded more than 2 million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, according to a county-by-county tally conducted by The Times, the first state in the nation to reach that alarming milestone and another marker of the wrenching toll the virus is inflicting.

The novel coronavirus has been spreading with unprecedented speed in recent weeks, creating crisis conditions in hospitals and making California one of the hardest-hit parts of the United States. Available capacity at intensive care units across Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley remains at 0%.

Hospitals throughout Los Angeles County are now strained and overwhelmed, Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said Wednesday. At certain points of the day Tuesday, 96% of all hospitals in L.A. County were diverting certain kinds of ambulances to hospitals farther away because they were so full, a figure that is usually only 33% at this time of year.