Alabama’s death toll for COVID-19 is approaching the 10,000 mark this weekend after the state Department of Public Health added 61 deaths from the disease in Saturday’s daily update.

The report raised the number of people who have died from the coronavirus over the coure of the pandemic to 9,930. The total has reached that level in just over 11 months since the death last March 23 of Thelma Jenny McDonald, 53, of the northeast Alabama town of Stevenson, the first person in the state to die after testing positive for COVID.19.

Saturday’s ADPH update showed 834 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 492,683 throughout the pandemic. The state averaged 957 new cases a day during the past week, less than one-fourth of the average daily high of 4,280 reported on Jan. 10.

There also was improvement in the number of people hospitalized across the state for the coronavirus. ADPH said there were 691 inpatients on Friday, down from a high of 3,084 on Jan. 11.

The number of people who have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccines stood at 272,494 on Friday, accounting for about 5.5% of the population. ADPH said almost 1.33 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been delivered to Alabama, and 869,164 doses have been administered.