Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS): Maharashtra Covid-19 deaths fell again to sub-100 levels with a drop in the number of 'active cases' while recoveries remained higher than fresh infections, indicating a flattening of the curve, health officials said here on Saturday.

Dropping below the 100-mark to May levels, the state witnessed 74 deaths - compared with the peak of 515 (September 15), and the state fatalities shot up from 43,838 to 43,911 now.

The state recorded 5,548 new cases - around one-third compared with the peak single-day tally of 24,886 (September 11), and the state tally jumped from 16,72,858 to 16,78,406 cases till date.

The state recovery rate increased from 89.85 per cent to 89.99 per cent - while the current mortality (death) rate stood stable at 2.62 per cent.

Simultaneously, another lot of 7,303 fully recovered patients returned home, taking the total from 15,03,050 to 15,10,353 till date - much higher than the 123,585 'active cases' (ill) currently in the state.

As per Saturday's figures, there was one death roughly every 19.5 minutes and 231 new cases added every hour to the state tally, and 17 districts notched zero fatalities.

Of the 74 deaths declared, Mumbai led with 32 fatalities, 7 in Pune, 6 in Thane, 4 in Nagpur, 3 each in Solapur, Sangli and Nanded, 2 each in Jalgaon, Akola, Jalna, Yavatmal and Chandrapur, 1 each in Palghar, Raigad, Nashik, Parbhani, Beed and Buldhana.

Remaining in the sub-50 range for the 29th day this month, Mumbai recorded the highest 32 fatalities, and the city toll shot up from 10,261 to 10,293 while the number of corona cases shot up by 992 - and the city total climbed from 256,505 to 257,497 now.

Of the total 8 Circles, Mumbai circle (MMR - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains on the brink as deaths spiral and cases pile up due to the contagion.

The MMR fatalities shot up by 40 and the toll increased from 17,942 to 17,982 and with another spike of 1,924 new infectees, the total cases zoomed up from 581,313 the previous day to 583,237 now.

With another 10 fatalities, the Pune circle's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll zoomed up from 9,516 to 9,526 and the daily infections increased by 1,209 - from 424,298 a day earlier to 425,507 cases now.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home-quarantine for Corona increased -- from 25,29,462 to 25,37,599 now -- while the number of those in institutional quarantine went down -- from 12,411 to 12,342 on Saturday.