Mumbai: The novel coronavirus continued to wreak havoc with Maharashtra reporting 43,183 new cases in just 24 hours. The state surpassed the previous record of 41,404 registered on March 28 taking the total to 28,56,163, the highest in India.

There were 249 fresh fatalities, taking the toll to 54,898, again the worst in the country, amid looming fears of a Lockdown 2.0.

Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur circles continued to cause worries on account of the zooming figures of COVID-19 deaths and infections. India’s commercial capital, Mumbai recorded its highest infections so far, at 8,646, taking up the tally to 423,419, besides total fatalities of 11,708.The Mumbai circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts - notched its highest 14,786 new cases, taking the total to 903,861, with 20,321 deaths so far.

As cases continued to soar in the state capital, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed a whopping 650 buildings, including one wing of the posh Maker Towers in Cuffe Parade, besides 80 slums/chawls across the city, to curb the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Pune district on Thursday recorded 8,011 new cases, the highest spike this year. Of the total cases, 4,103 new COVID cases were reported from Pune city (Pune Municipal Corporation) followed by 2,113 in Pimpri Chinchwad (Pimpri Chinchwad). The district also saw 65 deaths amid the infection.

Over two million people are in quarantine, either at home or in institutions, as the state grapples to control the infection. Simultaneously, the state recovery rate dropped to 85.02 per cent, while the death rate worsened to 1.92 per cent, and the number of active cases jumped up from 356,243 to 366,533 now.

There were nine deaths in Ahmednagar, seven in Beed, five each in Raigad and Solapur, four each in Parbhani, Latur, and Osmanabad, three each in Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Sangli, Hingoli, and Akola, two each in Amravati and Wardha, and one each in Palghar, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Jalna, Washim, Bhandara, and Chandrapur. Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation shot up to 19,09,498, while those shunted to institutional quarantine increased to 18,432 on Thursday.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday will conduct a meeting with senior officials of the district administrations of the worst-hit districts to take the review of the situation.

(With agency inputs)