A total of 132 people with the coronavirus died in places other than hospitals in January, National Police Agency sources said Friday.
The monthly number of such deaths more than doubled from 56 in December, surpassing the cumulative total of 122 in the final 10 months of 2020.
Of January's total, 56 had tested positive for the virus before dying while infections in the remaining 76 came to light after their deaths.
Of the total, 123 died either at home, in elderly nursing homes or other accommodation facilities, while the other nine died at work, in parking areas or other locations.
Of them, 95 were male and 37 were female.
There were 16 deaths among those in their 90s, 37 in their 80s, 36 in their 70s, 25 in their 60s, 11 in their 50s, four in their 40s, two in their 30s and one in the 20s age bracket.
By prefecture, Tokyo had the largest number of such deaths, at 46, followed by Kanagawa, at 19, Chiba, at 15, and Osaka, at 10.
In the first 10 days of February, seven such deaths occurred. Of them, four were in their 80s and the remaining three were in their 70s. Three deaths were in Tokyo and one each in Tochigi, Chiba, Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures.