The unrelenting heatwave sweeping vast swathes of India has claimed at least 110 lives and left over 40,000 people afflicted by suspected heatstroke between March 1 and June 18 this year, Indian Health Ministry officials said today.
Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, is the worst-hit having reported 36 deaths followed by Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha, according to the data compiled under the National Heat-Related Illness and Death Surveillance by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of the Health Ministry, our New Delhi correspondent reports.
“The data may not be final submission from states. So, the numbers are expected to be higher than this,” the sources said.
Large parts of northern and eastern parts of India have been in the grip of a prolonged heatwave, increasing heat stroke casualties and prompting the federal government to issue an advisory to all hospitals run by it to set up special units to attend on such patients.
The health ministry has said the country may observe above normal seasonal maximum temperatures in line with the observed trend of summertime temperatures.
