Mumbai, Jul 12 (IANS): The number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra crossed 2.5 lakh to reach 254,427, the active cases the 1 lakh-mark to touch 103,516, and the state reported 173 more deaths taking the Covid-19 toll to 10,289, according to officials here on Sunday.

The state recorded third highest single-day spike of 7,827 cases, down 312 from the peak of 8,139 (July 11), making it the fourth 7,000 plus rise in the past 11 days.

The number of fatalities dropped below the 200-mark, but went up from the lowest in July of 125 to 173 during the day. It was, however, considerably lower than the July 4's top toll of 295.

With Sunday's figures, there was one death roughly every 8 minutes and 326 new cases every hour in the state.

Against this, the recovery rate dropped marginally from Saturday's 55.55 per cent to 55.15 per cent, while the mortality rate stood at 4.04 per cent.

The health department said the number active cases was lower (favourable) vis-a-vis patients discharged, indicating a positive sign. On the positive side, 3,340 patients returned home, taking the number of discharged to 140,325, which is considerably higher 103,516 active cases.

Of the total 173 fatalities, Thane recorded 48 deaths, and for the fourth time this month, shot past Mumbai that reported 44 fatalities.

With this, Mumbai's toll went up from 5,244 to 5,288, while the number of Covid-19 patients shot up by 1,243 to touch 92,988.

There were 37 fatalities in Pune, 8 each in Palghar and Nashik, 6 in Aurangabad, 3 each in Solapur, Nanded and Jalna, 2 each in Raigad, Dhule, Jalgaon, 1 each in Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Latur, Beed, Akola and Gondiya, and 1 from another state.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan, daughter-in-law Aishwarya and grand daughter Aradhya tested Covid-19 positive and are under treatment at a private hospital, here.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Jalsa, residence of the Bachchans, in Juhu-Vile Parle as a containment zone with as many as 28 more suspected positive staffers. The BMC sanitized and fumigated two other family bungalows nearby.

The MMR (Thane Division) remains on edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up. While the toll has reached 7,281, the 4,475 new patients during the day pushed the number of cases up to 1,73,060.

In Thane, cases have touched 61,869 with 1,646 fatalities. It has become the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state.

Pune district continues to leap ahead by notching 39,125 cases and the toll increasing from Saturday's 1,060 to 1,097 till now.

In the Pune Division (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts), the number of deaths crossed the 1,500-mark to reach 1,509 and number of cases 44,812.

The next region of concern is the Nashik Division with 742 fatalities and 15,534 cases, followed by the Aurangabad Division with 392 deaths and 9,741 cases, and finally Akola Division with 162 fatalities and 3,694 cases.

The Kolhapur Division has reported 70 deaths and 2,847 patients, the Latur Division 76 fatalities and 1,837 cases, and the Nagpur Division 26 deaths and 2,707 cases.

All the eight divisions in the state recorded fatalities during the day. Chandrapur and Bhandara remained the only 2 of the 36 districts with zero Covid-19 deaths.

Meanwhile, the number of people in home quarantine increased to 686,150, and those in institutional quarantine to 47,801 on Sunday.