Mumbai, Sep 6 (IANS): For the fifth consecutive day, Maharashtra Covid-19 scaled a new peak of 23,350 fresh cases - surpassing the Saturday high of 20,489 - and notched fatalities above the 300-mark, health officials said here on Sunday.

With 23,350 new cases added, the state total crossed the 9-lakh mark, zooming from 883,862 to 907,212 now.

Adding 328 more fatalities - lower than the all-time peak of 422 (August 18), the state death toll shot up from 26,276 to 26,604 now.

There was one death roughly every 4 minutes and a staggering 973 new cases added every hour to the state tally.

The state recovery rate decreased for the fourth day straight, from 72.01 per cent to 71.03 per cent, while the current mortality (death) rate stood at 2.93 per cent on Sunday.

Against this, 7,826 fully recovered patients returned home, taking the total number of discharged patients from 636,574 to 644,400 till date - considerably higher than the 235,857 'active cases' (ill) currently in the state.

Of the total 328 fatalities, Pune led the state with 52 deaths, 42 in Sangli, 37 in Mumbai, 29 in Thane, 22 in Nagpur, 15 in Solapur, 13 in Jalgaon, 12 in Satara, 11 in Osmanabad - - in the higher bracket.

There were 10 deaths in Raigad, 9 each in Palghar, Nashik and Nanded, 8 each in Ahmednagar and Kolhapur, 7 in Beed, 6 each in Latur and Amravati, 4 each in Aurangabad and Parbhani, 3 in Washim, 2 each in Jalna, Buldhana and Chandrapur, 1 each in Dhule, Nandurbar, Wardha and Gondia, besides 2 from other states/countries - in the lower bracket.

The day witnessed a sharp spike in fatalities from Sangli, Nagpur, Solapur, and Jalgaon, even as seven districts in the state reported zero deaths, while Nagpur Circle jumped to the 5th spot, surpassing Aurangabad Circle, among the state's 8 Circles.

Remaining below the 50-range for the past 27 days, with 37 fatalities Mumbai's death toll rose from 7,832 to 7,869 and the number of corona cases shot up by a staggering 1,910 - the highest till date - to jump from 153,712 to 155,622 now.

Of the total 8 Circles, the Mumbai circle (MMR - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains on the brink as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with the fatalities shooting up by 85 from 13,224 a day earlier to 13,309 and with 5,407 new infectees, the total cases shot up from 356,392 the previous day to 361,799 now.

Pune district Covid cases touched 199,303 till date with the fatalities increasing from 4,377 a day earlier to 4,429 now.

Thane district on the third spot witnessed 143,178 cases and the death toll increased from 3,935 the previous day to 3,964 now.

With 79 more fatalities, the Pune circle's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll increased from 5,616 to 5,695 and the case tally zoomed up by the highest-ever, 6,317 - from 234,468 a day earlier to 240,785 now.

Nashik circle recorded 2,558 fatalities and 114,730 cases, followed by Kolhapur circle's 1,525 deaths and 52,272 cases, and Nagpur circle recorded 999 deaths and 48,467 cases.

Pipped by Nagpur circle now, Aurangabad circle had 986 fatalities and 35,408 cases, Latur circle had 926 fatalities and 32,125 cases, followed by Akola division with 524 deaths and 20,745 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home-quarantine for Corona increased from 14,81,909 to 14,96,072 now - while the number of those in institutional quarantine went up from 37,196 to 38,509 on Sunday.