Alabama’s COVID-19 numbers continued to show improvement in Saturday’s update by the state Department of Public Health as the numbers of coronavirus patients in hospitals and 7-day averages for new cases and deaths declined.

ADPH reported 2,937 new cases, bringing the total for the pandemic to 787,421. The state averaged 2,731 cases a day over the past week, a sharp decline from the average of 5,538 on Sept. 1 and the lowest since a figure of 2,622 on Aug. 4.

The state’s coronavirus death toll rose by 101 for a total of 14,022 since the pandemic began in March 2020. ADPH has added an average of 116 deaths a day over the past week, the lowest since a 7-day average of 106 on Tuesday. It takes about two weeks for deaths to be reported to the state agency and confirmed as being from the coronavirus.

The Alabama Hospital Association said there were 1,669 COVID inpatients in hospitals across the state on Friday, 85% of whom were not fully vaccinated. The patient count has dropped from 2,890 at the beginning of September.