By QUAID NAJMI

Mumbai, Jul 1 (IANS): Maharashtra added a whopping 104,748 new coronavirus cases in June to touch a total of 174,761 -- o higher than France's current tally of around 164,801 cases, according to official data.

During June, the number of deaths in the state increased from 2,362 to almost triple to a staggering 7,855, confounding health authorities as the state clamped a further lockdown till July 31.

The death rate in Maharashtra shot up from 3.37 per cent on June 1 to a worrisome 4.49 per cent on June 30.

By June 9, the state had overtaken the United Kingdom's daily rate of coronavirus infections and on June 12, the state even outstripped Canada in terms of total cases recorded here.

However, for several days in early April, the state had notched a mortality rate that was higher than the global average, and the recent spike prompted Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday to again appeal for reducing the death rate.

June was a major concern for the country's commercial capital Mumbai also, with cases shooting up from 22,789 to 77,658 and deaths zooming up from 1,319 to 4,556 now.

The scenario was equally alarming for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad districts, collectively referred to as Thane division.

From 53,259 cases and 1,609 deaths, the MMR has recorded 125,400 patients and 5,722 fatalities in June - the highest ever since Coronavirus sneaked into Maharashtra on March 9 and claimed its first victim on March 17.

With the spiralling cases, like the state, even the congested MMR (125,400 cases) has whizzed past Canada's current patient tally of 104,204, standing 19th, while the state's fatalities (5,722) are higher than Chile's 5,688 deaths, but lower than 6,113 fatalities notched by The Netherlands, according to the Worldometer.

The upward trend continued when on June 15, the state recorded 110,744 patients and 4,128 fatalities, which peaked on June 16 when a stupendous 1,409 deaths were declared.

During most days in June, the state notched 3-digit death figures and daily cases crossing the 5K mark for four days in the final week, with Mumbai, MMR and Pune Metropolitan Region grabbing the lion's share.

Incidentally, on June 1, the state death rate stood at 3.37 per cent, compared with India's 2.82 per cent, and on June 30 the state mortality rate increased to 4.49 per cent vis-a-vis India's 2.97 per cent.

During the same period the global mortality rate has dropped sharply from 6.13 per cent to 4.95 per cent - with Maharashtra (4.49 per cent) separated by just 0.46 per cent, portending grim days ahead.