AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Drug overdose deaths in Maine appeared to increase during the first month of the year after a record-setting 2020.

The Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said Thursday they have shifted to reporting overdose deaths by month to provide more information to the public about the state’s drug crisis. The offices said there were 29 confirmed and 29 suspected overdose deaths in January, an apparent increase from 44 confirmed deaths in January 2020.

The state averaged 42 overdose deaths per month in 2020. The heavy toll in January 2021 appeared to show a continuation of a surge in overdose deaths last year. The attorney general’s office has said the drug death epidemic has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic, and the state broke its record for most overdose deaths in a year last year with more than 500.

The most frequent cause of death in January was non-pharmaceutical fentanyl, state authorities said. Attorney General Aaron Frey said the state “must come together as a community to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control so that barriers to treatment and support are removed.”