Mumbai, Nov 22 (IANS): Maharashtra's Covid-19 deaths dropped on Saturday although new cases continued to increase amid apprehensions of a second wave, health authorities said here.

After staying in three-digit figures for three days this week, the state's Covid deaths dropped to 62 on Saturday, taking the state's overall death toll to 46,573. Shooting above the 5,000-mark for the fourth day, the state recorded 5,760 new infections on Saturday to take Maharashtra's Covid tally to 17,74,455 cases till date.

In a heartening development, 28 of the state's 36 districts recorded zero fatalities, including hotspots like Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Latur, Nanded, Kolhapur, Sangli and Ratnagiri, among others.

For the first time in over a week, the state's recovery rate dropped marginally, from 92.89 per cent to 92.82 per cent, while the current mortality rate improved slightly to 2.62 per cent after remaining at 2.63 per cent for 11 days in a row.

Simultaneously, another lot of 4,088 fully recovered patients returned home, taking the total number of recoveries to 16,47,004, much higher than the 79,873 active cases currently present in the state.

Of the 62 deaths declared on Saturday, Mumbai led the chart with 17 fatalities, followed by 12 each in Pune and Solapur, 7 each in Nashik and Satara, 4 in Akola, 2 in Buldhana, and 1 in Yavatmal.

Remaining in the sub-50 range for the 20th day this month, Mumbai recorded 17 fatalities for the second day running, touching April-levels, as the city's toll climbed to 10,656.

After remaining in the sub-1,000 mark for a week, Mumbai's new infections shot up by 1,093, taking up the overall tally to 274,579.

Of the total 8 circles, the Mumbai circle (MMR, comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) recorded 17 deaths, pushing up the toll to 18,485, while a spike of 1,977 new cases took its Covid tally to 615,499.

Pune circle (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) remained in double digits with 31 fatalities, taking the death toll to 10,493, while 1,291 new cases took its tally to 444,534.

The number of people sent to home quarantine decreased from 558,090 to 522,819 now, while the number of those in institutional quarantine went down from 4,883 to 4,569 on Saturday.