California has declared a state of emergency after confirming its first coronavirus death, bringing the US death toll to 11.
The patient’s death was the first COVID-19 fatality in the country outside of Washington state, where 10 people have died.
It came as US lawmakers reached an agreement on a $8.3 billion emergency bill to help fund efforts to contain the virus.
Hours after the person's death was announced, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency in response to the coronavirus.
"The State of California is deploying every level of government to help identify cases and slow the spread of this coronavirus," Newsom said in a statement.
He said the virus has resulted in 53 cases across what is the nation's most populous state.
The 10 other people died in a cluster of at least 39 infections that have emerged through community transmission of the virus in two Seattle-area counties.
The first California death from the virus was an elderly person in Placer County, near Sacramento, health officials said.
The person had underlying health problems and likely had been exposed on a cruise ship voyage between San Francisco and Mexico last month.
US lawmakers reached bipartisan agreement on an $8.3 billion emergency bill to help fund efforts to contain the virus.
The bill garnered enough votes to pass in the House of Representatives.
More than $3 billion would be devoted to research and development of coronavirus vaccines, test kits and therapeutics.
There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the fast-spreading illness.
