Massachusetts public health officials confirmed 881new coronavirus cases and five new deaths on Friday.
The update puts the total number of confirmed cases at 651,740 confirmed cases and the death total at 17,316 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Another 352 deaths are considered probably linked to COVID-19.
The state had on Thursday reported its 650,000th case.
Many of Massachusetts' COVID metrics, including the average number of coronavirus cases, average coronavirus test positivity and average number of confirmed deaths reported each day, have been falling since the end of March, according to trends posted to the Department of Public Health's interactive coronavirus dashboard.
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Health officials' projection of active COVID-19 cases decreased again, dropping to 19,784 on Friday from 20,498 on Thursday. It's the first time since Nov. 6 there were fewer than 20,000 active cases in Massachusetts.
The seven-day average of positive tests on Friday essentially held steady at 1.39%.
The number of patients in Massachusetts hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases dropped again to 459. Of those currently hospitalized, 138 are listed as being in intensive care units and 82 are intubated.
Nearly 6.6 million doses of COVID vaccines have been administered in Massachusetts as of Friday, including nearly 3.8 million first doses and over 2.6 million second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. More than 218,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered.
Over 2.8 million people have been fully immunized in the Bay State.
