Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS): Maharashtra on Saturday notched a new record of 23,501 Covid-19 recoveries compared with the number of new infections, besides recording 425 more deaths, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said here.

The state recorded 21,907 new cases - lower than the highest tally of 24,886 (September 11) - taking the state's total from 11,67,496 to 11,88,015 cases now.

Adding a staggering 425 more fatalities - though down from the peak of 515 (September 15) - the state's death toll increased from 31,791 to 32,216.

The state's recovery rate improved for the third consecutive day - from 71.47 per cent to 72.22 per cent - while the current mortality rate stood at 2.71 per cent on Saturday.

Against this, the highest ever 23,501 fully recovered patients returned home - higher than 21,907, the number of fresh cases added during the day.

This has taken the total number of discharged patients from 834,432 to 857,933 till date - much higher than the 297,480 active cases currently in the state.

As per the figures on Saturday, there was one death roughly every 3.38 minutes and a whopping 913 new cases added every hour to the state's tally.

Of the 425 deaths, there were 55 in Pune, 50 in Mumbai, 37 in Thane, 36 in Nagpur, 26 each in Satara and Sangli, 25 in Kolhapur, 16 each in Raigad and Solapur, 14 in Aurangabad, 13 each in Akola and Yavatmal, 11 each in Ahmednagar and Bhandara, and 10 in Palghar - in the higher bracket.

There were 9 deaths in Jalgaon, 8 in Nashik, 6 in Parbhani, 5 each in Latur and Osmanabad, 4 each in Ratnagiri, Beed, Nanded and Chandrapur, 3 each in Sindhudurg and Wardha, 2 each in Nandurbar, Washim and Gadchiroli, 1 each in Dhule, Amravati, Buldhana, and Gondia, besides 1 outsider/foreignerA - in the lower bracket.

After remaining in the sub-50 range for 37 days, Mumbai recorded 50 deaths - and the toll increased from 8,375 to 8,425 while the number of cases shot up by 2,211 and jumped from 180,668 to 182,203 now.

Of the total 8 circles, the situation in Mumbai circle (MMR - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains alarming as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with the fatalities shooting up by 113 - from 14,568 a day earlier to 14,681 and with another spike of 5,228 new infectees, the total cases shot up from 425,790 the previous day to 429,964 now.

Pune district's Covid cases touched 257,409 till date with the fatalities increasing from 5,133 a day earlier to 5,188 now.

Thane district on the third spot (after Pune and Mumbai) witnessed 168,805 cases and the death toll increased from 4,449 the previous day to 4,486 now.

With another 97 fatalities, the Pune circle's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll increased from 6,852 to 6,949 and the daily case tally zoomed up by another high of 5,402 - from 312,263 a day earlier to 317,434 cases now.

Nashik circle recorded 3,199 fatalities and 155,178 cases, followed by Kolhapur circle's 2,281 deaths and 77,942 cases, and Nagpur circle recorded 1,838 deaths and 81,775 cases.

Latur circle recorded 1,242 deaths and 46,142 cases, Aurangabad circle had 1,188 fatalities and 45,564 cases, followed by Akola circle with 725 deaths and 32,768 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine again increased sharply - from 17,78,792 to 18,01,180 now - while the number of those in institutional quarantine went up from 36,767 to 39,831 on Saturday.