Mumbai, Nov 12 (IANS): Maharashtra's Covid-19 deaths remained on the higher side, but recoveries soared and crossed 16 lakh till date even as the number of 'active cases' declined, health officials said here on Thursday.

The state witnessed 122 deaths - compared with the peak tally of 515 - and the fatalities shot up from 45,560 to 45,682 now.

The state recorded 4,496 fresh cases - much lower that the peak single-day tally of 24,886 - and the state tally shot up from 17,31,833 to 17,36,329 cases till date.

On the positive side, the state recovery rate shot up from 92.23 per cent to 92.44 per cent - while the current mortality (death) rate remained stable at 2.63 per cent.

Simultaneously, another lot of 7,809 fully recovered patients returned home, or nearly double the number of fresh infections - taking the total above the 16-lakh mark from 15,97,255 to 16,05,064 till date - much higher than the 84,627 'active cases' (ill), currently in the state.

Of the 122 deaths declared, Palghar led the state with 21 fatalities, 19 in Mumbai, 17 in Nagpur 15 in Pune, 13 in Thane, 7 in Satara, 4 in Chandrapur, 3 each in Nashik, Sangli, Jalna and Beed, 2 each in Solapur, Nanded, Akola, Yavatmal and Wardha, 1 each in Ahmednagar, Latur, Osmanabad and Bhandara.

Remaining in the sub-50 range for the 9th day this month, Mumbai recorded a low of 19 fatalities, and the city toll climbed from 10,506 to 10,525 now.

Mumbai new infections dropped below the 1,000-mark and with 858 fresh cases, the total shot up from 266,748 to 267,606 now.

Of the total 8 Circles, Mumbai circle (MMR - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains on the edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up due to the contagion.

The MMR recorded 53 new deaths pushing up the toll from 18,164 to 18,217 and with another spike of 1,635 new infectees, the total cases zoomed from 600,550 the previous day to 60,2185 now.

With another 24 fatalities, the Pune circle's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll zoomed up from 10,172 to 10,196 and the daily infections increased by 984 - from 435,686 a day earlier to436,670 cases now.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine fell again - from 941,118 to 811,035 now - while the number of those in institutional quarantine went down - from 6,551 to 6,487 on Thursday.