THE STATE REPORTED 2,615 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, a record high and above the target level Gov. Charlie Baker has set for the peak of the surge.

“Our model puts the peak at around 2,500 new confirmed cases per day,” Baker said on Friday, when the state was hovering in the 2,100 range.

Presumably Baker will want to see that number repeated for several days in a row before declaring the state at the peak of the surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. He had indicated on Friday that modeling indicated the surge would come closer to April 20.

The percentage of tested people who tested positive was 33 percent, even though the number of tests administered set a new high at 7,954. The number of fatalities rose by 70 to 756, which boosted the rate of deaths per positive cases to nearly 3 percent, up from 2.7 percent on Friday.

Once again deaths at nursing homes played a big role in the rising number of fatalities. The state data indicate deaths at nursing homes accounted for 45 percent of all fatalities, and 43 percent of the 70-person increase in fatalities in Sunday’s report.

The state data break down COVID-19 cases and fatalities by county. Middlesex County reported the most deaths at 149, followed by Hampden County at 105. Adjusted for population, tiny Franklin County in the western part of the state had by far the largest number of deaths, at .35 per 1,000 residents. The next closest was Hampden County at .22 deaths per 1,000 residents.