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04-06-2024
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: India saw nearly 25,000 cases of suspected heat stroke and 56 more people lost their lives after several heat wave days across the country from March-May, local media reported, citing government data.
May has been a particularly bad month for the region, with temperature in capital Delhi and nearby state of Rajasthan touching 50 degrees Celsius.
In a contrast, parts of eastern India have been reeling under the impact of cyclone Remal. Heavy rain in the north eastern state of Assam has killed 14 people since Tuesday.
In the island nation of Sri Lanka, at least 15 people have died due to flooding and landslides after heavy monsoon rain lashed the region, the country’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said on Sunday.
A confluence of factors has led to a very hot summer in South Asia, a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.
At least 33 people, including election officials on duty in India’s just-concluded general election, died of suspected heatstroke in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north, and Odisha in the east on Friday.
Data from the National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) showed that the situation was worst in May, with 46 heat-related deaths and 19,189 suspected heat stroke cases, news website The Print reported.
Including suspected cases, the total number of deaths in India could be much higher at 80, newspaper The Hindu reported.
Over 5,000 cases of heatstroke were detected in the central state of Madhya Pradesh alone.
The weather office has predicted that heat wave conditions will be less severe till Wednesday and an early arrival of monsoon in the southern state of Kerala last week is expected to bring more relief.
The federal health ministry says that there have been at least 56 confirmed heat strokes deaths from 1 March to 30 May. About 24,849 heatstroke cases were reported during the period.
However, state-wise figures suggest the actual number could be much higher.
In Odisha, district authorities reported 99 suspected heat stroke deaths in the past 72 hours of these, 20 cases have been confirmed, the state’s Special Relief Commissioner said in a statement.
In Uttar Pradesh, Navdeep Rinwa, chief electoral officer of the state, told reporters that the families of deceased election personnel would be given a monetary compensation of 1.5m rupees ($18,000; £14,000).
Rinwa said that a man who was standing in the queue to vote fainted because of the heat.
“The voter was transported to a health facility, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” he said. Suspected heat-related deaths have also been reported from the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
India’s National Centre for Disease Control calls heat strokes a “life-threatening” condition with a mortality rate of 40-64%.
The heat in northern and central India and parts of the west has been unrelenting for the past two weeks, with maximum temperatures hovering around 45-46C for days at a stretch and even climbing up to 50C in some areas.
However, India’s weather department says that temperatures are likely to fall in the coming days due to the onset on the monsoon.
