Mumbai, Apr 16 (IANS): Soaring above the 60K range, Maharashtra on Friday recorded a new high of 63,729 infections and the second-highest death toll of 398, with the state jumping past the 37-L mark, health officials said.

Shooting up to 63,729 new cases - a week after the previous peak of 63,294 (April 11), the state overall tally shot past the 37-Lakh mark, from 36,39,855 to 37,03,584, on Friday.

The state fatalities went up from 349 a day earlier to 398 today, compared with the highest 481 deaths (April 2), and the toll shot up from 59,153 on Thursday to 59,551 now, the worst in the country.

The trend was reflected even in Mumbai which added 8,803 new infections, up from 8,209 a day earlier on Thursday - and the tally shot up from 553,404 to 562,207 till date, 12 days after the city notched the highest daily infections of 11,206 (April 4).

With 53 deaths, the total fatalities in the country's commercial capital went up from 12,197 to 12,250, the highest in the country.

The state recovery rate improved from 81.03 per cent on Thursday to 81.12 per cent, while the death rate dropped from 1.63 per cent a day earlier to 1.61 per cent now, and the number of 'active cases' increased from 620,060 to 638,034 now.

The Mumbai Circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts - recorded a spike from 16,906 to 17,635 new cases, but lower than the peak of 19,953 (April 11) - taking up the total from 11,50,776 to 11,68,411 now, and deaths zoomed from 21,416 to 21,489 now.

A total of 45,335 fully cured patients returned home, taking the total of recoveries above the 30-L mark, from 29,59,056 to 30,04391 now.

Of the day's 398 total fatalities, Mumbai led the state with 53 deaths, 47 died in Pune, 35 in Ahmednagar, 31 in Nanded, 29 in Nashik, 23 in Nagpur, 21 in Latur, 15 in Thane, 12 each in Satara, Osmanabad, Amravati an Buldhana - in the higher range.

There were 9 deaths in Nandurbar, 8 in Jalgaon, 7 each in Ratnagiri, Jalna and Parbhani, 6 each in Solapur, Sangli, Wardha and Chandrapur, 5 each in Sindhudurg and Yavatmal, 4 in Washim, 3 each in Palghar, Kolhapur, Hingoli, Beed and Akola, 2 each in Raigad, 1 each in Dhule, Aurangabad and Gondia - in the lower range.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation dropped - from 35,87,478 on Thursday to 35,13,181 now, while those shunted to institutional quarantine went down from 27,273 to 25,168 on Friday.