The death toll from confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Massachusetts rose by 17 to 8,870, the state Department of Public Health reported Thursday, and the number of confirmed cases climbed by 393, bringing the total to 119,819.
The numbers remain low compared with the springtime surge, which at its height would regularly see new cases top 1,000 or more. Governor Charlie Baker said during a news conference earlier Thursday that the state as a whole “has made a lot of progress in fighting COVID,” but noted that “a handful of communities have persistently seen higher case rates and transmission.”
Eight communities — Chelsea, Everett, Framingham, Lawrence, Lynn, Revere, Westhampton, and Winthrop — are currently deemed at high risk for COVID-19 spread, according to the Department of Public Health.
“All residents in those communities really ought to stay home if they feel sick, and really ought to get tested if they go out,” Baker said. “No one can afford to gather in large groups in these communities. This is critically important.”
Baker also said that testing has continued to generally increase statewide, and acknowledged that younger people have been getting tested at higher rates in preparation for their return to school.
“Last week, the Commonwealth conducted an average of about 33,000 tests a day, which is about a 20 percent increase over the previous week,” he said.
Thursday’s testing number was among the highest on record for the state. The Department of Public Health reported that 31,584 more people had been tested for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of individuals tested to more than 1.8 million. The total number of tests administered climbed to more than 2.56 million.
The state also reported that new antibody tests had been completed for 441 people, bringing that total to 114,108.
The seven-day positivity rate, a metric closely watched by state officials, was at 0.9 percent, which is the lowest observed value.
Meanwhile, the three-day average of hospitalized coronavirus patients dropped slightly, to 313 from 314 a day before. The lowest that number has been is 302.
The number of hospitals using surge capacity fell slightly from three to two. The three-day average of deaths from confirmed coronavirus cases also dipped from 14 to 13. The lowest that number has been is 11.
Health officials said Thursday’s numbers report, like Wednesday’s, had been revised to meet a new definition for COVID-19 cases endorsed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The revised data include only those probable cases that are identified by antigen tests or death certificates and remove people with positive antibody tests, placing them in a separate category that states don’t report to the CDC, officials said.
Globe correspondent Jeremy C. Fox and Peter Bailey-Wells of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jaclyn.reiss@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JaclynReiss