Maharashtra has logged 25,631 fresh cases of coronavirus over the last 24 hours – reporting more than 25,000 cases for the second consecutive day on Friday. The state had reported 25,833 cases on Thursday, one of the highest tallies in a day since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

According to the State Health Department, Maharashtra recorded 70 deaths on Friday, taking the state’s fatality rate to 2.20 per cent. Earlier, the state was reporting 30-50 deaths a day but with 70 deaths on Friday, there is a clear rise in daily deaths.

Mumbai reported the maximum number of Covid cases at 3,063 followed by Pune at 2,872, Nagpur, on the other hand, reported 2,617 new cases, showing a decline in the number of daily new cases.

Aurangabad and Pimpri Chinchwad also showed a spike in the number of news cases, recording 1,313 and 1,324 cases respectively. New worrying signs are occurring in Nashik now, where 939 cases were recorded in a day. Chief Minister Uddhave Thackeray on Friday visited Nashik and Nandurbar district to oversee the handling of the vaccination drive.

The total number of covid cases surged to 24,22,021 including 1,77,560 active cases and 21,89,965 total recoveries in Maharashtra. However, the death toll mounted to 53,208 including the new deaths. State's test positive rate is 13.39 per cent and there are 8,67,333 people in-home quarantine and 7,848 people in institutional quarantine across Maharashtra currently.

Earlier, the statement government said that 36,39,989 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state till March 17.

Meanwhile, India has added 40,953 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. This is highest daily-rise since November 29 last year. The country also reported 188 deaths in 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,59,558.