Ambulances put on alert as Los Angeles hospitals swamped by COVID-19 patients

FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker checks on patients inside an oxygen tent outside the emergency room at the Community Hospital of Huntington Park during a surge in positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Huntington Park, California, U.S. December 29, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles health officials have told first responders to stop bringing adult patients who cannot be resuscitated to hospitals, citing a shortage of beds and staff as the latest COVID-19 surge threatened to overwhelm healthcare systems in America's second-largest city.

The order, issued late on Monday and effective immediately, marked an escalation of measures being taken by state and local officials nationwide in the face of alarming increases in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.