NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials have designated 35 hospitals across the country as Ebola treatment centers.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the list of hospitals on Tuesday. Most are clustered in metropolitan areas like New York City, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Washington D.C.

For more than a month, health officials have been talking to — and evaluating — hospitals that could serve as referral treatment centers for new Ebola cases that might occur. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assessed more than 50 hospitals in 15 states and Washington, federal officials said.

The 35 hospitals are deemed to have the staff, equipment and training to safely and effectively care for Ebola, the government said.

More hospitals will be added over the next several weeks to provide wider geographic coverage, officials said.

West Africa is currently suffering the worst Ebola outbreak in history, with more than 17,100 illnesses and at least 6,000 deaths so far.  Four cases have been diagnosed in the United States.

The designated hospitals in California are:

• Kaiser Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, California.

• Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center, Sacramento, California.

• University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California.

• University of California San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco.