Maharashtra Health Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday inaugurated a 50-bed COVID-19 care centre for police personnel at the Navi Mumbai police headquarters in Kalamboli.

Speaking to reporters, the minister condoled the deaths of 35 police personnel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We want police personnel who put their lives at risk to have the best care if they get infected by a coronavirus," Deshmukh said.

All police commissioners and superintendents have been instructed to start such facilities, he said.

"Although nearly 3,500 personnel have contracted the deadly infection in the state, the police don't hesitate in discharging their duties at quarantine centres, isolation wards or any other highly contagious areas," he said.

Senior officials including Navi Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Kumar were present for the inauguration of the 50-bed facility.

"All police personnel need is a pat on their backs and a signal that their interests and welfare will be taken care of," the minister said.

On Tuesday, Mumbai clocked a total number of 51,100 positive coronavirus cases while Wuhan registered 50,340. The death toll in Mumbai has reached 1760.58 of these deaths and was recorded in the last 24 hours alone.

Things aren't well for Maharashtra as well. The state has now overtaken China. Maharashtra recorded 120 Covid-19 fatalities as the state crossed the 90K cases mark, overtaking China, 90 days after the first case was detected here on March 9, officials said here on Tuesday.

The state on Tuesday recorded 120 deaths, marking an increase of 11 over Monday's 109, besides 2,259 new Covid-19 cases. The previous three-digit highs recorded in the state include -- 103 deaths (June 2), 122 (June 3), 123 (June 4), 139 (June 5), 120 (June 6), 109 (June 8) and 120 (Tuesday).

This comes to roughly one death every 12 minutes, and an average of 94 new cases notched every hour, in the state.

Maharashtra has been recording 75-plus fatalities and new patients over 2K daily for the past 14 days, with the previous single-day highest figure of 3,041 infections notched on May 24. In fact, the state has been notching new cases at a rate higher than the United Kingdom.

With 120 fatalities, the state's death toll has touched 3,289 while the total number of Coronavirus patients increased from Monday's 88,528 to zoom past the 90K mark and touch 90,787 on Tuesday.

The health department said that of the total number of cases declared to date, 44,849 were active cases as on Tuesday, increasing by 475 over Monday's 44,374.

The state has recorded a handsome recovery rate of 46.96 percent and a mortality (death) rate of 3.60 percent.

With Inputs from; PTI, IANS