BOSTON (SHNS) – As the second surge of the virus rages on here, Massachusetts moved to the precipice of 300,000 coronavirus infections with the confirmation Thursday of 4,985 new cases of COVID-19.

The latest cases announced by the Department of Public Health bring the state’s total case count to 297,301 infections since Feb. 1. The 44 recent COVID-19 deaths that DPH announced Thursday hiked the death toll to 11,558 people with confirmed or likely cases of the virus.

Massachusetts also moved to the precipice Thursday of 10 million coronavirus tests. The 92,627 new molecular tests included in Thursday’s report raised the number of tests conducted since the virus was first discovered earlier this year to 9,901,732. In recent weeks, Massachusetts has processed well more than 100,000 tests some days.

The seven-day average of the positive test rate remained at 6.02 percent in Thursday’s report.

Thursday’s report from DPH said there were 1,871 people with COVID-19 hospitalized as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, an increase of 20 from the day before and an increase of 680 patients since the beginning of December. There were 383 people being treated for COVID-19 in an intensive care unit, including 207 who needed a ventilator to help them continue to breathe.

About 1,398 of the 9,321 non-ICU beds that Massachusetts hospitals currently maintain remain open and could be staffed within 24 hours, representing about 15 percent available capacity. In ICUs, there are about 412 beds that could accept new patients within 24 hours — about 28 percent available capacity of 1,472 total ICU beds, DPH said.

DPH estimated Thursday that 76,215 people currently have active cases of COVID-19, a number that is almost equal to the population of Lawrence.