Mumbai, Aug 17 (IANS): Covid-19 deaths and cases in Maharashtra came down on Monday even as the state added one lakh patients taking the tally to six lakh, health officials said.

For the second straight day, the state recorded Covid-19 deaths below the 300-mark and cases fell drastically below 9,000.

With 228 Covid deaths -- lower than the peak of 413 till August 13, the state toll touched 20,265 on Monday while recording 8,493 fresh cases -- down from the previous highest of 12,822 till August 8 -- both highest in the country.

The number of Covid-infected persons surpassed the 6 lakh-mark touching 6,04,358 till August 17, and the state also achieved a rare day, when the number of new patients was lesser than those recovered and discharged.

There was one death every 6 minutes and 354 new cases every hour adding to the state tally on Monday, with the load of deaths gradually shifting to non-metro areas.

The state recovery rate increased from 70 per cent to a robust 70.09 per cent, while the current mortality (death) rate stood at 3.35 per cent on Monday.

Against this, 11,391 recovered patients returned home, taking the number of discharged patients to 4,28,514 till August 17 -- considerably higher than the 1,55,268 active cases at present, in the state.

Of 228 fatalities, Pune again topped the list with 54 deaths, followed by 40 in Mumbai and 22 in Thane in the higher bracket.

Besides, there were 16 deaths in Latur, 11 each in Jalgaon and Satara, and 10 in Raigad, in the middle range.

On the lower side, there were eight deaths each in Nashik and Sangli, seven each in Solapur and Kolhapur, six in Osmanabad, five in Nagpur, four each in Aurangabad and Nanded, three each in Ahmednagar and Dhule, two each in Palghar, Beed, Yavatmal and Buldhana, and one in Jalna.

Dropping below the 50-range for the fourth consecutive day, with 40 fatalities Mumbai's toll increased from 7,133 to 7,173 and the number of corona cases increased by 753 -- the lowest in nearly two months -- to touch 129,479 now.

Of 8 divisions, the situation in MMR (Thane division, comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains alarming as deaths spiralled and cases piled up, with the fatalities shooting up by 74 to touch 11,614 deaths and 2,104 fresh new cases pushed up the Covid-infected persons to 2,89,402 now.

Pune district -- which is now the worst-hit in the country -- recorded 1,32,481 cases with the fatalities increasing from 3,193 on Sunday to 3,247, while Thane district occupied the third spot after Pune and Mumbai which recorded 1,14,896 cases with the death toll increasing from 3,329 on Sunday to 3,351.

In the Pune division, comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts, with 72 more fatalities and 2,333 new cases, the death toll touched 4,115 and the case tally rose up to reach 1,54,625.

Nashik division has recorded 1,720 fatalities and 65,038 cases, followed by Aurangabad division recording 766 deaths and 24,537 cases and Kolhapur division recording 714 fatalities and 24,466 cases.

Next is the Latur division with 505 fatalities and 15,773 cases, Nagpur division with 398 deaths and 17,297 cases, followed by Akola division with 373 fatalities and 12,660 cases.

The number of people sent to home quarantine decreased from 10,53,897 to 10,53,659, while those in institutional quarantine dropped from 38,203 to 37,556 on Monday.