Mumbai, Jun 17 (IANS): For the first time since June 9, Maharashtra's Covid-19 deaths dived below the 1K-mark, even as new infections dropped under the 10K-level, as the number of patients cured increased, health officials said here on Thursday.

Compared with 1,236 deaths declared on Wednesday, the state has revealed a lower figure of 636 fatalities on Thursday, (comprising 263 new deaths, and 400 earlier deaths), much lower than the peak 2,771 (June 13) - and the toll shot up from 115,390 to 116,026 now, the worst in the country.

The number of fresh cases again fell below the 10K-level, and decreased from 10,107 on Wednesday to 9,830 on Thursday, compared with the record peak of 68,631 (April 18), and the tally zoomed from 59,34,880 to 59,44,710 now.

In Mumbai, for the 21st consecutive day, the new infections remained below the 1K-level, and fell from 821 a day earlier to 660 today - and the city tally went up from 717,172 to 717,832 till date, after touching the highest daily spike of 11,206 cases (April 4).

The daily deaths increased from 11 a day earlier to 20 today, and the total fatalities in the country's commercial capital went up from 15,227 on Wednesday to 15,247 on Thursday - the highest in India.

The state death rate improved, from 1.94 per cent to 1.95 per cent while the number of 'active cases' remained below the 2-Lakh level, but increased from 136,661 to 139,960 now.

On the brighter side, as many as 5,890 fully cured patients returned home - lower than the number of fresh infections (9,830) today - and the total increased from 56,79,746 to 56,85,636 now, while the recovery rate improved from 95.07 per cent to 96.64 per cent.

The Mumbai Circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts - recorded a drop in new cases, from 2,330 to 2,174 now - compared with the peak of 19,953 (April 11) infections.

With this, the MMR caseload has gone up from 15,67,290 to 15,69,464 and with 58 more deaths, the toll shot up from 30,990 to 31,060 now, in view of reconciliation of the data.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation decreased from 878,781 to 850,663 now - while those shunted to institutional quarantine went down from 5,401 to 4,964 on Thursday.