Mumbai, May 4 (IANS): Maharashtra's Covid-19 fatalities and new cases recorded a sharp hike though the Mumbai situation improved while the state death toll shot past the 71,000 mark on Tuesday, health officials said.

Against 567 deaths on Monday, the state saw 891 deaths of Tuesday, taking the total fatalities to 71,742 now.

The number of new infections crossed the 50,000 level again, at 51,880, taking the state tally to above the 48 lakh mark, to 48,22,902.

The Mumbai position was a relief with the infections falling further to 2,554, taking the tally to 661,175. Daily deaths came down, from 78 on Monday to 62 now, and the total fatalities in the country's commercial capital stood at 13,434.

For the third day, the state death rate remained stable at 1.49 per cent, while the number of active cases decreased to 641,910.

As many as 65,934 fully cured patients returned home - higher than the number of fresh infections on Tuesday - taking the total to 41,07,092 now, and the recovery rate improved from 84.07 per cent on Monday to 85.16 per cent now.

The Mumbai circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts - recorded 7,436 new cases, taking its tally to 14,05,276, and with 165 more deaths, the toll shot to 23,982.

Of the day's fatalities, Nagpur led with 107 deaths, while there were 72 in Thane, 62 in Mumbai, 53 in Pune, 52 in Nashik, 42 each in Ahmednagar, Solapur, and Chandrapur, 38 each in Jalgaon and Kolhapur, 36 in Nanded, 30 in Sangli, 29 in Raigad, 23 in Nandurbar, 22 in Jalna, 20 each in Amravati and Wardha, 16 in Gadchiroli, 15 each in Ratnagiri and Latur, 14 each in Satara and Osmanabad, 13 in Yavatmal, 11 in Bhandara, 10 in Aurangabad, nine in Parbhani, eight each in Sindhudurg, Beed, and Akola, seven each in Washim and Gondia, six in Hingoli, and two in Palghar.

Dhule and Buldhana recorded zero fatalities.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation increased to 39,36,323 now, while those shunted to institutional quarantine went up to 30,356.