Mumbai: Maharashtra recorded a new high of 122 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, taking the state toll zooming past the 2,500 mark to touch 2,587 fatalities even as the state grappled with the ‘Cyclone Nisarga’ fury.
Maharashtra recorded its highest single-day death figure Wednesday, making it the fourth time it has crossed the 100-plus toll in eight days. The previous high of three-figure tallies were – 103 (June 2), 105 (May 27) and the second-highest 116 (May 29). The toll includes 60 deaths in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone – the worst-hit in the country, besides 2,560 new positive cases recorded in the state.
This amounts to over five deaths and an average 106 new cases notched every hour in Maharashtra. The state has been recording 75-plus fatalities and over 2,000 new patients daily for the past nine days, with the previous highest figure of 3,041 infections notched May 24.
The total number of coronavirus patients increased to 74,860, with the Health Department reporting that 39,935 of them were active cases, increasing by 1,442 over Tuesday’s 38,493. The state has, however, recorded an encouraging recovery rate of 43.18 percent and a mortality rate of 3.45 percent.
Of the total 122 fatalities Wednesday, 49 were recorded in Mumbai alone – besides three persons from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal – taking the city death toll up to 1,417 now, while the number of COVID-19 positive patients here shot up by 1,276 cases to touch 43,492 now.
Besides Mumbai’s 49 deaths, there were 19 fatalities in Pune, 16 in Aurangabad, 10 each in Solapur and Thane, four in Dhule, two each in Akola, Jalgaon and Kolhapur, and one each in Palghar, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Jalna and Osmanabad.
The victims comprised 71 men and 51 women, and nearly 72 per cent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.
On the positive side, a total of 996 fully cured patients returned home, taking the number of those discharged from 31,333 to 32,329.
The MMR (Thane Division) continued to cause grave concerns with 60 new Covid-19 deaths taking the toll to 1,742 and 56,794 positive cases.
Though trailing a distant third after Mumbai and Thane, Pune Division fatalities touched 474, besides 10,059 patients.
IANS