California is averaging the fewest new daily COVID-19 cases since March 31, 2020, a time when testing was limited and pandemic lockdowns were just two weeks old.

On Friday, counties reported 1,062 new COVID-19 cases, according to data tracked by this news organization, for a seven-day average of 863 daily cases. That’s the lowest it’s been since the end of March last year when the state was averaging 838 daily cases.

Los Angeles County, the largest and hardest hit in the state, reported 203 new cases on Friday, followed by San Diego County with 126 cases and Sacramento County with 79. They were followed by Alameda, San Joaquin and Kern counties.

This time, the success in keeping down new cases has been driven in large part by vaccinations. Among Californians 18 and older, 70.5 percent have at least one vaccine dose, and 55.2 percent are fully vaccinated. Among residents 65 and older — a population targeted early for vaccination — 91.1 percent have at least one shot and 72.3 percent are fully inoculated.

So far, California has administered 38 million vaccine doses, 81 percent of the supply delivered to the state. It is averaging 126,408 daily shots, slightly less than half the number of injections California was averaging two weeks ago. In an effort to entice more Californians to get vaccinated, the state on Friday announced the first winners of its Vax for the Win contest, selecting six Bay Area residents for $50,000 prizes.

With lower case rates, fewer patients are hospitalized with the virus. On Thursday, there were 1,062 patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19, a 1.8 percent decline from the preceding day. On Jan. 6, during a massive winter surge, there were 21,923 patients hospitalized with confirmed cases.

California also reported 260 patients in intensive care unit beds with confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a 3.3 percent decline from the preceding day.

Those trends have also played out in COVID-19 deaths. On Friday, counties reported 50 new COVID-19 fatalities, for a seven-day average of 29 deaths. Los Angeles County again led with 14 deaths, followed by Santa Clara County with 10 and Orange, San Mateo and San Bernardino with three each.

In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County’s 10 deaths and 25 new cases totaled 119,188 cases and 2,153 deaths during the pandemic. San Mateo County’s three new deaths and nine new cases totaled 42,106 cases and 579 deaths.

Contra Costa County reported 36 new cases and no new deaths on Friday, for a total of 69,827 cases and 802 deaths. San Francisco reported 11 new cases and no new deaths for a total of 36,729 cases and 546 deaths.

Alameda County reported 66 new cases and has had 89,091 cases during the pandemic. The county also has 1,264 deaths, a decline of more than 400 from the previously reported total because of an update to the Alameda County Public Health Department’s methodology for counting COVID deaths. The county was previously counting any fatality where the person had tested positive for the virus, regardless of the cause of death. After the switch, Alameda County is now following the state’s definition, reporting only deaths where the virus was the primary or a contributing factor, or can’t be ruled out entirely.