A California National Guard medic checks the vital signs of an incoming patient in front of triage tents set up outside Providence St Mary Medical Center amid a surge in COVID-19 patients in Southern California in Apple Valley, California, on Dec 18, 2020. [Photo/Agencies] As the overall COVID-19 death toll in the US neared 400,000, health officials in California reported that a second variant of the virus has appeared across the state and also have halted one lot of vaccine doses due to allergic reactions. The variant, known as L452R, was first detected in Denmark in March and appeared in California in May.