MUMBAI: For the third straight consecutive day, Covid-19 played havoc with both Maharashtra and Mumbai reporting record highs of infections and deaths, health officials said here on Saturday.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who has warned of stringent norms to be announced shortly, reviewed the situation again on Saturday amid speculation of tighter measures likely to be announced on Sunday.
The state recorded its highest 49, 447, 47, 827 new infections, up from the previous high of 47, 827 new cases registered on April 2, and the tally increased from 29, 04, 076 on Friday to 29, 53, 523 on Saturday.
Four days after the death toll crossed the 54K-mark (March 28), the state added 277 fatalities on Saturday, compared with 481 notched on Friday (comprising the April 2 toll of 202 plus 279 old deaths), taking the toll from 55, 379 to 55, 656, again the worst in the country.
Over 2.20 million people are in quarantine, either at home or in institutions, as the state grapples to control the infection.
The state recovery rate continued to drop further, from 84.62 per cent on Friday to 84.49 per cent, while the death rate worsened from 1.91 per cent a day earlier to 1.88 per cent, and the number of active cases crossed the 4-lakh mark, jumping up from 389, 832 to 401, 172.
Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur circles remained major concern areas due to the galloping figures of new cases and deaths, followed by Latur, Akola, Aurangabad and Kolhapur circles.
The country's commercial capital, Mumbai has recorded its newest peak of 9, 108 infections, up from 8, 844 on April 2, taking up the tally from 432, 367 to 441, 475, besides 27 deaths which pulled up the total fatalities to 11, 754.
The Mumbai Circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts - notched its highest 15, 989 - up from 15, 321 (April 2) - new daily cases, taking the total up from 919, 382 to 935, 371, with deaths shooting up from 20, 520 to 20, 578.
As cases continued to soar in the glamour capital, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed a whopping 681 buildings, besides 70 slums/chawls across the city, to curb the spread of the virus.
Of the day's 277 fatalities, Pune led the state with 52 deaths, 35 in Nagpur, 32 in Aurangabad, 27 in Mumbai, 24 in Thane, 21 in Nashik, 18 in Nanded, in the higher range.
There were nine deaths in Latur, seven in Raigad, six in Yavatmal, five each in Beed, Akola and Amravati, four each in Satara and Sangli, three each in Solapur, Hingoli and Wardha, two each in Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Sindhudurg and Osmanabad, one each in Ahmednagar, Buldhana, Bhandara and Chandrapur, in the lower range.
Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation shot up from 21, 01, 999 to 21, 57, 135, while those shunted to institutional quarantine increased from 19, 237 to 18, 994 on Saturday.