Mumbai, Jun 22 (IANS): Maharashtra on Monday notched 3,721 Covid-19 cases - down by 153 from the peak of 3,874 on June 20 while there were 62 deaths, the lowest this month till date, health officials said.

The fatalities came down by 39 from Sunday's 101 - and a sharp fall of 116 from the previous peak of 178 fatalities recorded on June 15.

With this, the state death toll climbed to 6,232, (though the state government pegged it at 6,283) and total cases shot up to 135,796 till date, both being the highest in the country.

Monday's figures work out to roughly one death every 23 minutes, and a whopping 155 new cases notched every hour in the state.

After several days, the recovery rate dropped from 50.04 to 49.86 per cent, and the mortality rate stood at 4.63 per cent.

For most days in June, the state has been recording three-digit highs of deaths and over 3,000 plus figures of new patients.

The Health Department said of the total number of cases till date, 61,793 are active cases - and this number is lower than the number of patients cured, indicating a positive sign.

Out of Monday's fatalities, Mumbai alone notched 20 deaths -- taking the city's death toll up to 3,737 now, while the number of Covid-19 positive patients here went up by 1,098 cases to touch 67,586 now.

There were also 15 deaths in Thane (Kalyan-Dombivali, Ulhasnagar, Mira-Bhayander), 11 in Pune, eight in Nashik, four in Aurangabad, two in Akola, and one each in Palghar and Latur.

On the positive side, a total of 1,962 fully cured patients returned home, taking the number of those discharged to 67,706 now.

Meanwhile, BMC Commissioner I.S. Chahal launched 'Mission Zero' involving a Rapid Action Plan with 50 mobile dispensaries, doctors and all other facilities for the northern suburbs of Mumbai.

The dispensaries-on-wheels will move around the north-east suburbs of Bhandup and Mulund and north-west suburbs of Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, and Malad to identify and treat patients for two-three weeks.

These areas have become a matter of concern with a lower than average doubling period, after Dharavi recorded a remarkable turnaround which earned the BMC and Maha Vikas Aghadi state government unexpected praise from the Centre, senior officials said with pride.

The RAP will include local doctors and is supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, top realtors bodies CREDAI-MCHI, NGOs like the Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana and Desh Apnayen.

These organisations would provide mobile vans, medicos and medicines, while the civic teams would carry out the swab testing, quarantine facilities, etc., said Chahal.

The MMR (Thane Division) remains a problem area with a total of 4,655 Covid-19 deaths, and the number of positive cases touched 99,229.

Thane - with 25,390 cases and 732 fatalities - has emerged as the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state.

Pune district has dropped to the third position with 16,474 patients and 612 deaths till now. But Pune Division ranks second (after MMR) with 19,626 patients and 822 deaths.

The next major region of concern is Nashik Division with 405 deaths and 6,221 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 194 fatalities and 4,275 cases, and finally Akola Division with 103 deaths and 2,184 cases.

Latur Division has 33 deaths and 789 cases, Kolhapur Division notched 36 deaths and 1,709 patients, and finally Nagpur Division with 15 deaths and 1,647 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home-quarantine increased to 601,182 now, while those in institutional quarantine increased to 26,910.