There are more than 300 more active cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts this week than there were last week and the rate at which new cases are being diagnosed continues to outpace the rate at which people are recovering.

The Department of Public Health reported Wednesday that there were 5,287 people in Massachusetts under isolation with confirmed cases of COVID-19. That’s up by 329 cases or 6.6 percent from the 4,958 active cases DPH reported the prior week.

The number of people with active cases of the highly-contagious virus has been steady or climbing for more than two months as Massachusetts has stalled out in the third of four reopening phases, and as some school districts and college campuses welcome students physically back to school. During the time period that the number of active cases has been growing, the number of tests processed each day has generally been on the rise, too, and the share of tests that come back positive has fallen to its low point of 0.8 percent.

Between the report published Sept. 9 and the report released Sept. 16, Massachusetts confirmed 2,324 new cases of COVID-19 — about 350 cases more than were confirmed the previous week. Over the same time period, 1,896 people recovered from their bouts with the illness and health officials confirmed 99 more deaths linked to the virus.

When the state first began reporting the number of recoveries and number of people under isolation on June 3, there were 7,012 people isolated with active cases of COVID-19. That number of active cases rose to 7,300 in the June 10 report and then fell until settling at 2,586 as of both July 8 and July 15. The number of active coronavirus cases has been climbing ever since.

The most updated list of Massachusetts communities with the highest rate of infection, over 8 cases per 100,000 residents, included the following municipalities as of Wednesday:

• Chelsea
• Dedham
• Everett
• Framingham
• Lawrence
• Lynn
• Lynnfield
• Monson
• Nantucket
• New Bedford
• Plainville
• Revere
• Saugus
• Tyngsborough
• Winthrop
• Wrentham
• Worcester

Health officials in Nantucket say they are planning to step up efforts to fight the transmission of COVID-19 at local construction sites.

The move comes after it was confirmed that most of the 30 cases reported since Wednesday on the island came from people working in landscaping, construction and other trades, many of whom shared transportation to job sites.

The Cape Cod Times reported that at an emergency meeting on Monday, the local board of health voted unanimously not only to increase its outreach efforts to tradespeople regarding social distancing and mask-wearing but also to issue up to $300 to employers for each violation.

The town can also shut down businesses that have more than three violations over a three-day period.

School officials have also announced that classes — which are scheduled to begin Wednesday — would be 100 percent remote through at least Sept. 30.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report