California governor shuts churches, businesses as COVID-19 cases surge

FILE PHOTO: California's Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to the media after casting his vote at a voting center at The California Museum for the presidential primaries on Super Tuesday in Sacramento, CA U.S., March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Gabriela Bhaskar

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered a massive retrenchment of the state's reopening on Monday, shutting bars and banning indoor restaurant dining statewide and closing churches, gyms and hair salons in hardest-hit counties.

Newsom's move, which undoes weeks of reopening efforts in parts of the most populous U.S. state, comes as several rural counties are experiencing strains to their hospital systems, while cases mount in large metropolitan areas including Los Angeles and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.