The number of Covid-19 deaths in Maharashtra crossed the 54,000-mark as the state again retreated into stringent semi-lockdown style restrictions from Saturday night, health officials said here on Saturday. The state recorded 166 new deaths, pushing up the total number of fatalities to 54,073, just 10 days after zooming past the 53,000-mark on March 17. The state also added another 35,726 new cases - down from the highest ever tally of 36,902 recorded on March 26, taking the overall caseload to 26,73,461, the highest in the country.

Simultaneously, the state's recovery rate dropped from 87.02 per cent to 86.58 per cent, while the death rate stood at 2.02 per cent, compared to 2.04 per cent recorded a day earlier. The number of active cases in Maharashtra presently stands at 3,03,475. The situation has worsened faster than state Health Secretary Pradeep Vyas' prediction 12 days ago, that the state could have more than 3 lakh active cases by April first week.