Mumbai, Aug 29 (IANS): Maharashtra's Covid-19 cases recorded a new peak above the 16K-mark while Pune Circle crossed the 2 lakh patients figure, even as the state's death toll zoomed above the 24K level, health officials said here on Saturday.

With 16,867 new cases, higher than the previous peak of 14,888 (August 26), the state's total cases shot up to 764,281, while 328 more fatalities mounted the death toll to 24,103 -- both highest in the country.

There was one death roughly every 4 minutes and a whopping 703 new cases added every hour to the state tally, with the load of deaths and cases gradually shifting to non-metro areas.

The state's recovery rate decreased from 72.62 per cent to 72.58 per cent, while the current mortality (death) rate stood at 3.15 per cent on Saturday.

On the positive side, 11,541 fully recovered patients returned home, taking the total number of discharged patients to 554,711 till date, considerably higher than the 185,131 active cases currently present in the state.

Of the 328 fatalities, Pune circle led with 47 deaths, followed by Thane (38), Mumbai and Nagpur (31 each), Sangli (23), Raigad (21) and Jalgaon (20), Nashik (16), Kolhapur and Nanded (15 each) Solapur (9), Ahmednagar and Latur (8 each), Palghar (7), Satara and Beed (6 each), Amravati (4), Dhule, Ratnagiri, Aurangabad and Osmanabad (3 each), Jalna and Chandrapur (2 each), and Nandurbar, Hingoli, Parbhani, Akola, Buldhana, Wardha and Gondiya (1 each).

The day's highlight was a sudden spurt in fatalities in Sangli, Raigad and Jalgaon districts, though four districts reported zero deaths.

Remaining below the 50-range for the past 17 days, Mumbai's death toll increased from 7,565 to 7,596 and the number of corona cases increased by 1,432 to touch 143,389 now.

Of the total 8 circles, the Mumbai circle (MMR comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains on the edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with the fatalities shooting up by 97 from 12,595 a day earlier to 12,692 and with 3,805 new infectees, the total cases shot up from 324,167 a day earlier to 327,462 now.

Pune district cases touched 169,448 till date with the fatalities increasing from 3,974 a day earlier to cross the 4K mark at 4,021 now.

Thane district is in third spot with 129,854 cases while the death toll increased to 3,747.

With 62 more fatalities, the Pune circle's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll increased to 5,102 while the case tally zoomed up by a staggering high of 5,292 to cross the 2-lakh at 201,280.

Nashik circle recorded 2,253 fatalities and 93,119 cases, followed by Kolhapur circle with 1,158 deaths and 37,846 cases, and Aurangabad circle with 896 fatalities and 30,720 cases.

Next is Latur circle with 743 fatalities and 24,432 cases. Inching close is Nagpur circle with 742 deaths and 31,994 cases, followed by Akola division's 447 fatalities and 16,716 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased from 13,01,346 to 13,12,059 now, while the number of those in institutional quarantine went up from 34,908 to 35,524 on Saturday.