Mumbai, Sep 20 (IANS): Maharashtra's Covid-19 tally on Sunday crossed 12 lakh even as a record 26,408 patients were fully cured and returned home, including a 106-year-old great-grandmother, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said here.

The state recorded 20,598 new cases - lower than the highest tally of 24,886 - and pushed the total from 11,88,015 to 12,08,642 cases till date.

Adding a staggering 455 more fatalities - down from the peak of 515 - the death toll increased from 32,216 to 32,671 now.

The state recovery rate improved for the third consecutive day - from 72.22 per cent to 73.17 per cent - while the current mortality rate stood at 2.07 per cent on Sunday.

Against this, the highest ever 26,408 fully recovered patients returned home - higher than 20,598, the number of fresh cases added during the day.

This has taken the total number of discharged patients from 857,933 to 884,341 till date - much higher than the 291,238 active cases currently in the state.

As per the figures on Sunday, there was one death roughly every 3.16 minutes and a whopping 858 new cases added every hour to the state tally.

In a heartwarming development, a 106-year old great-grandmother Anandibai Patil successfully vanquished Covid-19 on Sunday and flashed a semi-toothless grin holding her 'Discharge Card' this afternoon.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Tope, Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray, and others hailed her victory over the virus as she was wheeled out of Savlaram Hospital in Dombivali town of Thane.

Of the 455 toll, Pune led the state with 76 fatalities, plus 54 in Nagpur, 44 in Mumbai, 43 in Thane, 22 in Ratnagiri, 21 each in Dhule and Aurangabad, 18 in Latur, 17 in Osmanabad, 16 each in Ahmednagar and Sangli, 14 in Satara, 13 in Nashik, 12 in Jalgaon, 11 in Kolhapur - in the higher bracket.

There were 9 deaths in Bhandara, 8 in Raigad, 6 each in Solapur and Beed, 5 in Amravati, 4 in Palghar, 3 each in Nanded and Gadchiroli, 2 each in Parbhani and Chandrapur, 1 each in Jalna, Hingoli, Akola, Yavatmal, Buldhana, Washim, Wardha and Gondia, besides 1 from outside the state or a foreigner - in the lower bracket.

Returning to the sub-50 range after three days, Mumbai recorded 44 deaths - and the toll increased from 8,425 to 8,469 while the number of corona cases shot up by 2,209 and jumped from 182,203 to 184,439 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 99 - from 14,681 a day earlier to 14,780 and with another spike of 5,209 new infectees, the total cases shot up from 429,964 the previous day to 435,201 now.

Pune district Covid cases touched 261,135 till date with the fatalities increasing from 5,188 a day earlier to 5,264 now.

Thane district on the third spot (after Pune and Mumbai) witnessed 170,669 cases and the death toll increased from 4,486 the previous day to 4,529 now.

With another 96 fatalities, the Pune circle's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll increased from 6,949 to 7,045 and the daily case tally zoomed up by another 5,193 - from 317,434 a day earlier to 322,627 cases now.

Nashik circle recorded 3,261 fatalities and 158,031 cases, followed by Kolhapur circle's 2,330 deaths and 79,650 cases, and Nagpur circle recorded 1,908 deaths and 84,687 cases.

Latur circle recorded 1,286 deaths and 47,110 cases, Aurangabad circle had 1,213 fatalities and 46,336 cases, followed by Akola circle with 734 deaths and 33,730 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine again increased sharply - from 18,01,180 to 18,49,217 now - while the number of those in institutional quarantine went down significantly from 39,831 to 35,644 on Sunday.