110 died of heatwave in India since March

New Delhi, June 20

The heatwave has claimed at least 110 lives and left around 40,272 people grappling with suspected heatstroke since March 1, the Health Ministry sources said on Thursday.

Monsoon advances

• With the advancement of southwest monsoon on Thursday, there will be no heatwave over most parts of the country during the next 4-5 days
• Southwest monsoon, after stalling for more than a week, is set to cover central and eastern parts of the country in the next few days. The rains are critical for agriculture because most of the sowing for the kharif crop takes place during this period
• The India Meteorological Department said India had received 18 per cent less rainfall than normal since the onset of monsoon on June 1

Uttar Pradesh is the worst-affected having reported 36 deaths followed by Bihar and Rajasthan, according to the data compiled under the National Heat-Related Illness and Death Surveillance by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

In May, the NCDC had confirmed 56 heatstroke deaths. Moreover, there have been over 40,000 cases of heatstroke in this period.

Officials in the NCDC said the number of fatalities are expected to be higher than this. “The state governments keep updating the data as and when confirmed cases of heatstroke are reported,” an official in the NCDC said.

Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said 14 people have died due to heatwave in the past 48 hours and 118 are admitted in hospitals in the national capital. At least 10 people died of heat-related illness at Delhi’s RML hospital.

“The temperature has reached 52 degrees Celsius in the past few days and it is the highest in the last 60 years. The night temperature has also been 38 degrees Celsius. The number of people suffering from heatwave has increased in North India. Around 310 people were admitted to government hospitals, of which 112 have been discharged, 118 are still undergoing treatment and 14 have succumbed,” Bhardwaj said.

On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry sent teams to central government-run hospitals to assess the number of deaths which took place due to heat-related illness. The health officials have been asked to share data on heat-related deaths with the Centre so that measures could be taken in advance to aid patients.