Three days after it breached a million Covid-19 infections’ mark, Maharashtra with total 10,77,374 cases on Monday surpassed Russia 10,68,320 cases which is ranked on the Worldometer dashboard after USA, India and Brazil.

Maharashtra earning the dubious distinction of surging ahead of Russia in terms of infections came on a day when 17,066 people tested positive for Coronavirus in various parts of the state.

The possibility of Maharashtra shooting past Russia had looked imminent on Sunday, when the western state with 10,60,308 was just 2,503 short of Russia’s 10,62,811 cases.  

In Maharashtra where an all-time high of 495 deaths were reported on September 10, a relatively low of 257 people succumbed to Covid-19 in various parts of the state on Monday.

With the fresh deaths, the total number of deaths rose from 29,531 to 29,894 in the state.

Of the deaths, Mumbai accounted for 31 deaths. As a consequence Mumbai’s Covid-19 toll rose from 8,150 to 8181, while the infected cases  increased from 169,741 to 1,72,010.

Pune district with 2,35,419 infected cases continued to be the worst-affected city-district in Maharashtra. The number of deaths in Pune increased from 4813 to 4838.

Thane district remained on the third spot --after Pune and Mumbai – with 1,58,908 total cases, while the pandemic toll rose from 4162 to 4838.

In a related development, as many as 15,789 patients were discharged from hospitals in the state after full recovery. As a result, the total number of patients discharged from various hospitals after full recovery since the second week of March this year went up to 7,55,850. The recovery rate stood at 70.16 per cent. The mortality rate in the state is 2.77 per cent. The state health authorities pegged the number of “active cases” in the state at 2,91,256.

Out of 53,21, 116 samples sent to laboratories, 10,77,374 have tested positive (20.20 per cent) for COVID-19 until Monday. Currently, 17,12,160 people are in home quarantine while 37,198 people are in institutional quarantine.