Maharashtra recorded its highest fatality surge of 122 deaths on Wednesday along with another massive spike of 2,560 COVID-19 cases to take the toll to 2,587, while its case tally rose to 74,860.

Despite this, officials said the rate of increase of cases had been reducing between May 1 to June 1, while the rate of doubling of cases had increased, apparently proving that the rate of spread is slowing down.

The State’s rate of increase in cases till June 1 stood at 4.15%, lower than the national average of 4.74%.

Only 39,935 are active positive ones. The discharge of 996 patients took the number to 32,329 with the recovery rate standing at 43.18%, said officials.

“On May 1, the rate of increase in cases stood at 7.76%, while the doubling rate was 9.27 days. A fortnight later, on May 15, the figures were 6.23% and 11.56 days respectively. On June 1, the rate of increase was down to 4.15% while the doubling rate had increased to 17.35 days,” said State Surveillance Officer Dr. Pradeep Awate.

Mumbai's case tally has now crossed the 43,000-mark to reach 43,492 with the city reporting 1,276 cases. The city has 24,597 active positive cases. With 49 fatalities reported on Wednesday, Mumbai’s toll has risen to 1,368.

Pune district reported 19 deaths taking the toll to 367. However, the district authorities said the toll had already risen to 372.

Similarly, as per officials, while Solapur district in the Pune division reported 10 deaths to take its toll to 85, authorities there said the district’s toll had already climbed to 88.

Aurangabad, a major hotspot in Marathwada, reported 16 deaths taking the district’s toll to 84.

As per officials, three deaths each were reported from Navi Mumbai and Ulhasnagar in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) among other parts of the State.

“Of the deaths reported on Wednesday, 57 had occurred in the last couple of days while the remaining fatalities took place between April 30 and May 31. 72% of the deaths reported had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease,” said Dr. Awate.

Pune district’s tally, as per official figures, has reached 8,463 with the district reporting another massive spike of more than 250 cases.

Besides Mumbai, the surge in cases in Thane in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) continued unabated, with 225 cases taking the district’s tally to 5,052. Navi Mumbai reported a similar big spike of 114 cases (total 3,001).

“There are 82 laboratories functional for diagnosis which include 46 government and 36 private ones. Till date, 74,860 of the 4,97,276 laboratory samples have been tested positive with almost 16,000 samples across the State tested on Wednesday,” Dr. Awate said.

He said 5,71,915 persons were in home quarantine and 33,674 were in institutional quarantine facilities.

There are 3,661 active containment zones, said Dr. Awate.