By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, May 17 (IANS): Maharashtra on Sunday recorded the highest figure of new Covid-19 cases - 2,347 - and the second highest figure of 63 deaths - exactly 60 days after the first Covid-19 death was recorded in Mumbai on March 17, officials said here.

This comes to a staggering surge of roughly 98 new cases every hour in the state and a death rate of roughly 1 fatality every 22 minutes, as the state entered Lockdown 4.0 till May 31.

With 63 fatalities - slightly down from the previous high of 67 notched on May 16 -- the state death toll now stands at 1,198 and the total number of coronavirus patients increased from 30,706 to 33,053 on Sunday, after the previous steepest single-day jump of 1,606 recorded on May 16.

The Health Department said of the total number of cases, 24,161 were 'active cases'.

Of the total deaths, 38 were recorded in Mumbai alone, taking up the city's toll from Saturday's 696 to 734 now, and the number of Covid-19 positive patients here shot up by the highest ever - 1,595 cases - to touch 20,150.

Mumbai's Dharavi slum alone continued to be a major hotspot and a headache for the health authorities, notching 44 new cases, taking the total number of patients to 1,242, and 56 deaths to date.

Besides Mumbai's 38, there were nine deaths in Pune, six in Aurangabad, four in Raigad, three in Solapur, and one each in Thane, Latur and Amravati.

The deceased comprise 44 men and 19 women, and nearly 65 per cent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.

On the positive side, 600 more fully cured patients returned home, taking the number of those discharged to 7,688.

In a heart-warming development, a six-week old female infant and her 4-year old brother valiantly conquered Covid-19 and returned to a rousing welcome at their home in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik has said that now each housing society in Mumbai will carry out the basic screening of its residents for Covid-19 for which orders will be issued soon.

Moved by around a dozen deaths of police warriors in the state, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar sent her prayers and best wishes to the police personnel in the state.

"With heartfelt gratitude, I send my best wishes and prayers to the entire police force of Maharashtra. You all are putting your lives at risk to safeguard ours. Proud of you all. Stay safe and blessed," she said in a tweet.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Thane Division) continued to cause huge concerns with 811 Covid-19 deaths and cases shooting to 25,130, with Thane district notching 48 deaths, Palghar 13 and Raigad 16 fatalities so far.

Though trailing a distant second after Mumbai, Pune Division fatalities touched 224, besides 4,325 patients.

The next major area of concern is Nashik Division with 78 deaths and 1,295 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 32 fatalities and 1,069 cases, and finally Akola Division with 29 deaths and 511 cases.

There's also Latur with 6 deaths and 123 cases, Kolhapur Division with 5 deaths and 191 patients, and finally Nagpur Division with 3 deaths and 368 patients.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home-quarantine increased from 334,558 to 348,508, and those in institutional quarantine went up from 17,048 to 17,638, while the state's containment zones increased from 1,516 to 1,688 on Sunday.

As many as 14,972 teams have carried out a survey of a population of around 63.8 lakhs in the state to date as the state lapsed into Lockdown 4.0 till May 31.