The weekly average number of new cases of COVID-19 per day in Alabama has fallen by about 67% since the beginning of this year, according to the state Department of Public Health’s daily update on Saturday.

The agency reported 1,189 new cases of the disease during the latest 24-hour period, raising the number of cases since the pandemic began last March to 479,856. The state has averaged 1,220 cases per day over the past week, down from the average of 3,718 cases a day for the week that ended Jan. 1.

There have been 9,242 deaths from the coronavirus throughout the pandemic, including 62 in Saturday’s update.

ADPH said 993,715 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to Alabama, and 581,317 have been administered.

There was encouraging news on the number of people in Alabama hospitals for COVID-19, with a count of 1,267 on Friday. That compares to 1,664 a week ago.

A demographic breakdown of individuals receiving their first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed that 62% of doses went to females and 38% to males. A breakdown by age groups revealed that 46% of the population age 75 and up have been vaccinated, compared to 22% of those 70-74; 17% of those 65 t0 69; and 6% for ages 16-64.

The statistics showed that 55% of the initial doses went to whites and 11% went to blacks, with the rest going to people of unknown background or other groups. ADPH said about 5% of the state’s Black population and 9% of whites have received at least one dose of the vaccines.