Amid rise in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad, the district authorities have decided to hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss if lockdown should be imposed or not, a senior official said on Saturday. The district reported 459 coronavirus cases on Friday, which took its overall infection count to 52,103.

Talking to PTI, district collector Sunil Chavan said, “A meeting will be held on Sunday evening, in which the way ahead for lockdown will be decided. Police Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and other officials would be present for it. After a review of cases and overall coronavirus situation in the district, a decision about lockdown will be taken.”

“Lockdown can be imposed, but ample time will be given to people to prepare themselves for it. The number of patients is growing. If cases keep growing at this speed, there will be paucity of beds in hospitals…Officials will discuss all this tomorrow,” he added. Till Friday night, there were 2,910 active cases in Aurangabad district, another official said.

A total of 179 patients were discharged from hospitals, which took the recovery count to 47,909, he added. The death of five patients on Friday increased the district’s toll to 1,284, he added.

Aurangabad municipal commissioner Astik Kumar Pandey said, “The administration is closely monitoring the situation.In the past, when the number of cases went up, we were able to manage well as it was a lockdown period. But now it will be a challenge.” Since March 1, Aurangabad district has reported 1,737 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 911 patients were discharged after recovery. A total of 17 patients have lost their lives since March 1 till Friday night, the official said.

The number cases in other districts of the Marathwada region has also gone up, he said, adding that Jalna district reported 202 new cases, Beed 97, Latur 108, Nanded 128, Osmanabad 26, Hingoli 46 and Parbhani 47. In Parbhani, the restriction on buses coming from the districts located in Vidarbha region, political marches, agitations and curbs on places of religious worship will continue till March 15, the official said.