Mumbai, Aug 18 (IANS): Maharashtra has set a new record with 422 Covid-19 deaths in a single day - surpassing the previous peak of 413 recorded on August 13 - health officials said on Tuesday.

The state recorded a high of 11,119 new cases -- down from the previous highest of 12,822 till August 8.

With 422 fatalities, the state toll rose to 20,687 and the number of cases spiked to 6,15,477 -- both highest in the country.

There was one death every three minutes and 463 new cases every hour adding to the state tally on Tuesday with the load of deaths rapidly shifting to non-metro areas.

The state recovery rate rose from 70.09 per cent to a robust 71.14 per cent, while the current mortality (death) rate stood at 3.36 per cent on Tuesday.

As compared tO 9,356 recovered patients returning home, taking the number of discharged patients to 4,37,870 till August 18 -- higher than 1,56,608 active cases at present, in the state.

Of 422 fatalities, Pune again topped the list with 89 deaths, followed by 61 in Raigad, 49 each in Mumbai and Thane, and 34 in Nagpur in the higher bracket.

Besides, there were 17 deaths each in Nashik and Ahmednagar, 16 in Kolhapur, 13 in Solapur, 11 each in Jalgaon, Satara and Sangli, in the middle range.

On the lower side, there were six fatalities in Beed, four each in Dhule, Latur, Osmanabad and Amravati, three each in Palghar, Nandurbar and Ratnagiri, two each in Hingoli, Nanded, Akola and Chandrapur, one each in Sindhudurg, Parbhani and Buldhana, besides two from other states.

Raigad and Nagpur witnessed a huge spurt in fatalities while Aurangabad did not report a single death since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Dropping below the 50-range for the fifth straight day, with 49 fatalities Mumbai's total toll rose from 7,173 to 7,222 and the number of corona cases increased by 931 reaching 1,30,410.

Of the total 8 divisions, the MMR (Thane division, comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains on the edge as deaths spiralled and cases piled up, with the fatalities spiking the highest with 162 to touch 11,776 deaths and 2,644 fresh new cases taking the Covid-infected people to 2,92,046 now.

Pune district recorded 1,34,913 cases with fatalities increasing from 3,247 on Monday to 3,336, while Thane district was at the third spot after Pune and Mumbai which recorded 1,15,923 cases with the toll increasing from 3,351 on Monday to 3,400.

With 113 more fatalities, the death toll in the Pune division (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) touched 4,2285 and the case tally spiked with 3,221 new cases to reach 1,57,846.

Nashik division has recorded 1,772 fatalities and 66,872 cases, followed by Aurangabad division recording 769 deaths and 24,963 cases, and the Kolhapur division recording 745 fatalities and 25,523 cases.

Next is Latur division with 521 fatalities and 16,430 cases, Nagpur division with 434 deaths and 18,229 cases, followed by Akola division with 380 fatalities and 13,001 cases.

The number of people sent to home quarantine for Corona rose from 10,53,659 to 11,35,749 now while those in institutional quarantine increased from 37,556 to 38,175 on Tuesday.