BOSTON (WHDH) - The Department of Public Health reported 6,887 newly confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

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A total of 359,445 cases have been reported so far in Massachusetts with an estimated 80,359 active cases and a seven-day average positivity rate of 8.6 percent.

A total of 81 new deaths were confirmed, elevating the confirmed virus-related death toll to 12,157 statewide.

Two thousand, two hundred and seventy-one people are currently hospitalized and 417 are currently receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit. The average age of hospitalized persons is 73.

The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person, typically between people who are in close contact with one another and via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

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From Dec. 13 through Dec. 26, 9,907 people between the ages of 20-29 have tested positive. The highest rate of positives per age group.

Ages 0-19 came in next with 9,814, followed by 30-39 year-olds at 8,822. The lowest reported age group was those over 80 with just 2,441 confirmed cases in that two-week period.

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