Mumbai, Nov 20 (IANS): Maharashtra Covid-19 deaths and new cases continued to increase with Pune becoming the worst-hit on Friday, sparking fresh alarm, though the number of recoveries also improved, health authorities said.

After remaining in double-digit earlier this week, for the third consecutive day the state witnessed 3-digit figures, going up to 155 deaths - compared with the peak tally of 515 (Sep. 15) - and the state fatalities shot up from 46,356 to 46,511 now.

Shooting above the 5K mark for the third day, the state recorded 5,640 new infections, compared with the peak single-day tally of 24,886 (Sep. 11) - and the number of total cases went up from 17,63,055 to 17,68,695 till date.

The state recovery rate continued to improve, from 92.79 percent to 92.89 percent - although the current mortality (death) rate remained stable at 2.63 per cent for 10 days in a row now.

Simultaneously, another lot of 6,945 fully recovered patients returned home - taking the total from 16,35,971 to 16,42,916 till date - much higher than the 78,272 'active cases' (ill), currently in the state.

Of the 155 deaths declared, Pune led the state with 60 fatalities, 15 in Satara, 13 each in Thane and Nagpur, 12 in Mumbai - in the higher bracket.

There were 8 fatalities in Nashik, 7 in Aurangabad, 3 each in Parbhani, Nanded, Yavatmal, 2 each in Raigad, Jalgaon, Sangli, Osmanabad, Beed and Wardha, 1 each in Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Bhandara, Gondia and Chandrapur, besides one from outside the state - in the lower bracket.

Remaining in the sub-50 range for the 19th day this month, Mumbai recorded 12 fatalities for the second day running, the lowest since April, and the city toll climbed from 10,627 to 10,639 now.

After remaining in the sub-1,000 mark for six days, Mumbai new infections shot up by 1,031, taking up the total from 272,455 to 273,486 now.

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

The MMR recorded 27 new deaths pushing up the toll from 18,441 to 18,468 and with another spike of 1,963 new infectees, the total cases zoomed from 611,559 the previous day to 613,522 now.

Pune circle (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) remained in the double-digit level with 75 fatalities, the death toll zoomed up from 10,387 to 10,462 and the daily infections increased by 1,126 - from 442,117 a day earlier to 443,243 cases now.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine decreased - from 560,868 to 558,090 now - while the number of those in institutional quarantine went up - from 4,284 to 4,883 on Friday.