Mumbai: Maharashtra - the country's most industrialised state - on Tuesday recorded 76 Covid-19 deaths - the highest single-day surge - and 2,127 new cases, officials said here.

This amounts to a staggering three deaths every hour and around 89 new cases every hour. The state has been notching above 2K new patients consecutively since the past three days.

With 76 fatalities - up by 13 from the previous high of 63 notched on May 17 -- the state death toll now stands at 1,325 and the total number of coronavirus patients increased from 35,058 on Monday to 37,136.

The health department said the state now has 26,164 active cases.

Of the total 76 deaths, 43 were recorded in Mumbai alone - the highest till date on a single-day - taking the city's toll to 800 now, and the number of Covid-19 positive patients here shot up by 1,411 cases, again a new record - to touch 22,746 today.

Mumbai's Dharavi slum alone continued to be a major hotspot and a headache for the health authorities, notching 26 new cases, taking the total number of patients to 1,353, and 56 deaths to date.

Besides Mumbai's 43 deaths, there were 17 in Thane (Thane and Navi Mumbai), 6 in Pune, 3 in Akola, two each in Nagpur and Buldhana, and one each in Aurangabad, Dhule and Nashik.

They comprised 50 men and 26 women, and nearly 76 per cent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.

On the positive side, as many as 1,202 fully cured patients returned home on Tuesday, taking the number of those discharged to 9,639.

Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Naval Bajaj, meanwhile, sought 12 dedicated ambulances from the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the benefit of the police personnel who are getting infected in large numbers.

So far, around 618 police personnel in the city - besides 600 more elsewhere in the state - are Covid-19 positive, but they have to wait for 7-8 hours before an ambulance is available.

In another development, the Mumbai Police has dismissed rumours that permission would be granted for the special Eid namaz on the occasion of Ramzan Eid, expected to be celebrated on May 25.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Thane Division) continued to cause huge concerns with 904 Covid-19 deaths and cases shooting to 28,431.

Though trailing a distant second after Mumbai, Pune Division fatalities touched 238, besides 4,821 patients.

The next major area of concern is Nashik Division with 85 deaths and 1,312 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 35 fatalities and 1,181 cases, and finally Akola Division with 34 deaths and 543 cases (IANS)