Photo: COVID-19 update.

As the United States experiences the most significant surge of COVID-19 cases since the coronavirus was first identified in February, Belmont has seen a similar increase in the number of positive cases over the past 14 days as of Dec. 3, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.

Sixty-three residents were diagnosed over the past two weeks as a total of 427 Belmontians has been infected by the virus since February, which comes to a biweekly rate of 14.6 infections per 100,000 population, both indicators increasing over the past two week period.

Over the fortnight, 3,703 residents were tested with 63 positive cases, a rate of 1.7 per 100,000 population.

There are now 97 communities considered at the highest risk for transmitting the new coronavirus in Massachusetts, according to the latest weekly community-level data on the pandemic, an increase of 16 

The jump in the number of cases resulted in the town re-entering the state’s designated “yellow” range indicating a moderate risk of being infected. Belmont had been in the “green” range for more than a month, having spent a week in the yellow range earlier this fall.

For communities with populations of between 10,000 and 50,000, a yellow designation has an average of more than 10 cases per 100,000 or a positive test rate of more than 5 percent.