The state notched 9,251 new Covid cases, down from the highest - 10,576 on July 22, though fresh cases continue to soar in the 8,000-plus range in the second half of July.

 

The number of deaths in the state continued to remain in the 200-plus range with 257 fatalities notched on Saturday. However, this was lower than the single day's record toll of 298 recorded on July 23.

 

With the fresh fatalities, the state's death toll went up to 13,389, while the total cases rose to 366,358 - both highest in the country.

 

According to Saturday's figures, there was one death roughly every 6 minutes and a stupendous 385 new cases every hour.

 

The state recovery rate increased for the second day from 55.99 per cent to 56.55 per cent on Saturday, while the current mortality rate stood at 3.65 per cent.

 

The Health Department said that of the total cases till date, 145,481 are active cases.

 

On the positive side, 7,227 recovered patients returned home on Saturday, taking the total number of discharged patients to 207,194.

 

Of the total 257 fatalities, Pune again notched the highest deaths, at 72, overtaking Mumbai for the second day running.

 

Mumbai recorded 52 deaths, taking up the toll in the country's commercial capital to 6,036 and the number of corona cases increased by 1,080 to 108,060.

 

There were also 49 fatalities in Thane, 12 each in Nashik and Solapur, nine each in Palghar and Jalgaon, seven in Kolhapur, six in Raigad, five in Ratnagiri, four in Aurangabad, three each in Sangli and Jalna, two each in Dhule and Nanded, one each in Nandurbar, Satara, Sindhudurg, Beed, Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Nagpur, besides 1 from another state.

 

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated a fully-equipped 50-bed Covid hospital in the Reliance Industries Ltd. educational complex in Nagothane, Raigad district, set up under the guidance of RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Director Hital Meswani.

 

Thackeray also inaugurated a new Covid-19 testing lab in Kalyan with a capacity of 3,000 tests in Kalyan and dedicated Corona Care Centres in Kalyan and Dombivali towns - all in Thane district - in the presence of Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde, Collector Vijay Suryawanshi and others.

 

The Shree Kutchi Kadva Patidar Samaj, Dombivali, has helped set up a 210-bed hospital including 60 beds with oxygen and 10 in ICU, plus accommodation for over 100 doctors, nurses and staffers, while the Asra Foundation of Kalyan has also set up a 194-bed hospital with 100 oxygen beds and 10 semi-ICU beds.

 

The MMR (Thane division) remains on the edge with the current toll increasing by 116 to reach 8,895 and a staggering 3,523 new cases, pushing up the number to 220,840.

 

Thane's cases have touched 84,851 with 2,298 fatalities to emerge as the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state.

 

Pune district has now 73,007 cases, with the death toll increasing to 1,738 on Saturday.

 

With 72 more deaths, the Pune division's death toll crossed has reached 2,270 and the case tally touched 83,423.

 

Nashik division has 1,042 fatalities and 26,783 cases, Aurangabad division 528 deaths and 14,216 cases, Akola division 213 fatalities and 6,075 cases, Kolhapur division has 176 deaths and 6,432 cases, Latur division 170 fatalities and 3,843 cases, and Nagpur division recorded 50 deaths and 4,433 cases.

 

Continuing the trend of the past week, all the eight divisions recorded fatalities on Saturday, while Chandrapur remains a zero Covid death district till date.

 

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased to 894,509, while those in institutional quarantine went down to 44,603 on Saturday.