Mumbai, Aug 12 (TIWN) After a brief lull, Maharashtra's Covid-19 deaths and cases soared again into thee higher ranges with the Mumbai region seeing a jumping of 1,000 deaths in just eight days, but simultaneously, recoveries have also improved, health officials said on Wednesday.

The state notched 344 Covid deaths, and recorded 12,712 new cases, the second highest after the August 8 peak of 12,822.

The death toll rose to 18,650, while the total number of cases went up to 548,313 - both highest in the country.

According to Wednesday's figures, there was one death roughly every 4 minutes and a staggering 530 new cases every hour.

The recovery rate went up from 68.79 per cent to 69.64 per cent on Wednesday, while the mortality rate stood at 3.04 per cent.

Also, a total of 13,408 recovered patients returned home, taking the total number of discharged patients to 381,843 till date.

Of the fresh fatalities, Mumbai again topped with 50 deaths, followed by 41 in Pune and 33 in Thane.