■ California is the third state to pass 25,000 coronavirus deaths, joining New York and Texas.

LOS ANGELES — California on Thursday surpassed 25,000 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, the third state to do so, health officials said.

The milestone comes as the nation’s most populated state faces a surge of COVID-19 infections that has hospitals stretched to capacity and forced nurses and doctors to treat more patients than usual. California also has confirmed the second reported U.S. case of a mutant variant of the coronavirus that appears to be more contagious.

The state Department of Public Health says hospitals in Southern California and the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, which together account for a large majority of the state’s 40 million residents, have no capacity left in intensive care units to treat COVID-19 patients.

Hospitals are housing patients in hallways, conference rooms, a cafeteria and gift shops. Makeshift hospitals are being set up in tents, arenas and schools.

California was the third state to reach 25,000 deaths, behind New York, which has nearly 38,000 deaths, and Texas, which has more than 27,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

California’s reported its first case of COVID-19 in late January. It recorded its 10,000th death from the virus in August.

This week, Los Angeles County reached a “terrible milestone,” with

274 additional deaths in 24 hours for a record toll of 10,056 deaths, said

Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county health director. The nation’s most populated county has had about 40 percent of California’s virus deaths.

Most of the state is under newly extended restrictions that have closed or reduced capacity of businesses, and people are being urged to stay home as much as possible to try to slow the spread of infections.

Authorities warned they will be patrolling streets to shut down large New Year’s Eve gatherings that could spread the virus.

Meanwhile, California became the second state after Colorado to report finding a new strain of the virus that was first confirmed in the United Kingdom.

The patient, who developed symptoms on Dec. 27, is a 30-year-old San Diego County man who didn’t have any history of travel, which could indicate that someone else already had brought the new strain into the state, officials said.