Mumbai, Apr 8 (IANS): After three days of mild relief, Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra scaled a new peak nearing 60,000, deaths touched a new high, Mumbai Metropolitan Region tally crossed a million-mark, while the state notched half-million active cases in the current second-wave of the virus, health officials said here on Wednesday.

The state added a record of 59,907 new patients on Wednesday, up from the previous highest tally of 57,074 recorded on April 4, taking up the state's overall tally to 31,73,261.

The number of fatalities also shot up from 297 a day earlier to 322 on Wednesday, compared to the highest toll of 481 recorded on April 2, taking the state's tally to 56,652, the worst in the country.

The state's recovery rate plummeted again from 83.36 percent on Tuesday to 82,36 percent on Wednesday, while the death rate worsened from 1.81 percent a day earlier to 1.79 percent, while the number of active cases jumped up from 472,283 to 501,559 now.

For the third time in four days, the country's commercial capital recorded a five-digit case tally, as the state complained that vaccine stocks had depleted with only three days' doses available.

After notching 11,206 cases on April 4, the number of infections in Mumbai increased from 10,040 a day earlier (Tuesday) to 10,442 on Wednesday, taking up the city's tally to 483,042, while 24 deaths increased its death toll to 11,856.

The Mumbai Circle – comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts – notched another record high figure of new infections on Wednesday at 19,952, taking up the total to 10,10,998 cases till now, while the number of fatalities mounted to 20,808.

Of the day's 322 total fatalities, Nanded led the chart with 43 deaths, followed by 41 in Nagpur, 24 in Mumbai, 23 in Thane, 21 in Jalna, 20 each in Palghar and Solapur, 19 in Nandurbar, 14 in Nashik, 12 in Pune, 11 in Beed, 10 in Parbhani, 9 in Jalgaon, 7 in Osmanabad, 6 in Yavatmal, 5 in Bhandara, 4 each in Raigad, Sangli, Sindhudurg and Aurangabad, 3 each in Ahmednagar, Buldhana and Gadchiroli, 2 each in Dhule, Akola, Washim, Bhandara and Gondia, and 1 each in Kolhapur and Latur.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation shot up from 24,55,498 to 25,78,530 now, while those shunted to institutional quarantine dropped from 22,797 to 21,212 on Wednesday.