By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, June 4 (IANS): Maharashtra recorded a new high of 123 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday, even as the state conducted more than half-million - 510,176 tests - of which 77,793 persons have tested positive so far, health officials said here.

The state recorded its highest single-day death figure on Thursday, making it the fifth time it has crossed the 100-plus toll in 9 days.

The previous highs of three-digit tallies were - 103 (June 2), 105 (May 27), 116 (May 29), and 122 (June 3).

Thursday's toll includes 68 deaths in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone - the worst-hit in the country, besides 2,933 new positive cases recorded in the state.

This comes to roughly one death every 11 minutes, and an average 122 new cases notched every hour, in the state.

Maharashtra has been recording 75-plus fatalities and over 2,000 new patients for the past 10 consecutive days, with the highest figure of 3,041 infections notched on May 24.

With 123 fatalities, the state death toll has touched 2,710 while the total number of coronavirus patients increased to 77,793.

The Health Department said of the total number of cases declared till date, 41,3939 were active cases - increasing by 1,458 over 39,935 on Wednesday.

The state has recorded an encouraging recovery rate of 43.29 percent and a mortality rate 3.48 percent.

Out of Thursday's fatalities, 48 were recorded in Mumbai alone - taking the city death toll up to 1,465 now, while the number of Covid-19 positive patients here shot up by 1,439 cases to touch 44,931 now.

Besides Mumbai's 48 deaths, there were 21 fatalities in Jalgaon, 15 in Thane, nine in Pune, seven in Solapur, five in Aurangabad, four in Raigad, three in Nashik, two each in Washim and Parbhani, and one each in Palghar, Dhule, Jalna, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded and Yavatmal.

The victims comprised 85 men and 38 women, and nearly 75 percent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.

On the positive side, a total of 1,352 fully cured patients returned home , taking the number of those discharged to 33,681 now.

Mumbai's Dharavi - Asia's biggest slum - remained a problematic hotspot with 23 new cases reported on Thursday, taking the total number of infections to 1,872 besides 71 deaths till date.

Meanwhile, MMRDA on Thursday announced that it would launch the second phase of the Wuhan-type field hospital with 1,000 beds including 100 ICU beds at the Bandra Kurla Complex with enhanced facilities to ensure there are no problems during monsoon.

The MMR (Thane Division) continued to cause grave concerns with 68 new Covid-19 deaths taking the toll to 1,810 and 58,878 positive cases.

Though trailing a distant third after Mumbai and Thane, Pune Division fatalities touched 490, besides 10,534 patients.

Since June 1, Thane district with 11,420 cases and 254 fatalities, has shot past Pune district which has 8,825 patients and 376 deaths.

The next major region of concern is Nashik Division with 199 deaths and 2,545 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 95 fatalities and 2,142 cases, and finally Akola Division with 56 deaths and 1,195 cases.

Latur Division has reported 15 deaths and 435 cases, Kolhapur Division 15 deaths and 1,155 patients, and finally Nagpur Division with 12 deaths and 845 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased from 571,915 to 650,303 Thursday, while those in institutional quarantine went down by 3,051 to 30,623 now.

In another relieving news for patients, there are as many as 73,049 beds currently available for Covid-19 quarantine in the state.

The state's containment zones increased from 3,661 to 3,804 on Thursday while 19,132 health teams have fanned out around the state to survey a population of around 72.37 lakhs till date.