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Christus St. Vincent registered nurse Jeremy Willard prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in December. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)

New Mexico recorded under 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for the fifth straight day with officials announcing 884 cases on Wednesday afternoon.

The five-day stretch dropped the rolling average to 961 cases a day, the lowest seen since Nov. 6 when it was 927 a day.

The death toll remains high, however, with the rolling average currently at 28 deaths a day after the Department of Health announced an additional 34 deaths on Wednesday.

Seven of those who died were from McKinley County and ten were evenly split between Bernalillo and San Juan counties. Underlying conditions were reported in 13 of the 27 deaths.

The deceased mostly ranged in age from their 40 to their 90s although two people, from Grant and McKinley counties, were in their 30s.

Most of the new cases came from Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties with 213 and 144, respectively.

The state has recorded 165,835 cases and 3,009 deaths from the virus.

There are currently 605 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across New Mexico and 89,756 cases designated as having recovered by DOH.