Mumbai, Jul 14 (IANS): Maharashtra notched 213 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday while Mumbai's tally of fresh cases fell below the 1,000-mark, providing some relief, health officials said here.

Tuesday's tally of new cases at 6,741 was down from a peak of 8,139 (July 11), but increased by 244 compared to Monday's 6,497.

The number of fatalities in the state again went above the 200-mark from the July lowest of 125 to 213 on Tuesday, though considerably lower than the previous record toll of 295 notched on July 4.

With the fresh fatalities, the state's death toll went up to 10,695 while the total cases touched 267,665, both highest in the country.

According to Tuesday's figures, one death was recorded in roughly every 7 minutes and a staggering 281 new cases every hour in the state.

The recovery rate in the western state increased marginally from 55.38 per cent a day earlier to 55.67 per cent on Tuesday, while the mortality (death) rate stood at 4 per cent.

The Health Department said that of the total cases till date, 107,665 are active cases, which is lower vis-a-vis the number of patients cured, indicating a positive sign.

On the positive side, 4,500 cured patients returned home on Tuesday, taking the total number discharges to 149,007, considerably higher than the 107,665 active cases in the state.

In the most cheerful news, a 100-year retired schoolteacher, Arjun G. Naringrekar, taught a ‘lesson' to coronavirus and returned home to Kandivali suburb after celebrating his birthday with doctors, nurses and other care-givers outside the BMC's HinduHridaySamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital in Jogeshwari on Tuesday evening.

Of the 213 fatalities, Mumbai alone accounted for 70 deaths, taking the city's toll to 5,405, while the number of corona cases increased touched 95,100 on Tuesday.

Besides, Thane recorded 64 fatalities, followed Pune (25), Palghar and Jalgaon (8 each), Nashik and Solapur (6 each), Ahmednagar and Aurangabad (4 each), Raigad and Nanded (3 each), Ratnagiri, Latur and Parbhani (2 each), and Satara, Sangli, Akola, Buldhana, Bhandara and Nagpur (1 each).

The MMR (Thane Division) remains on the edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with the current toll at 7,543 and a staggering 2,893 new patients, pushing up the number of cases to 179,760 on Tuesday.

Thane cases have touched 65,324 with 1,769 fatalities to emerge as the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state.

Pune district continues to zoom ahead by notching 42,092 cases, with the death toll increasing from 1,127 a day earlier to 1,152 on Tuesday.

The Pune Division's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll reached 1,578 with 48,425 patients, but remains far behind MMR and Thane district.

The next major region of concern is Nashik Division with 782 fatalities and 16,890 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 401 deaths and 10,314 cases, and Akola Division with 168 fatalities and 3,958 cases.

Next on the list is Kolhapur Division, which has notched 76 deaths and 3,148 patients, Latur Division had 86 fatalities and 2,048 cases, and Nagpur Division recorded 30 deaths and 2,912 cases.

All the eight divisions in the state recorded fatalities on Tuesday, but only Chandrapur (out of total 36) remains a zero Covid death district, though all have notched fresh cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased from 687,353 earlier to 698,854 now, while those in institutional quarantine went up from 41,660 to 42,350 on Tuesday.