Since the middle of last week, an abnormally high temperature has been blamed for the deaths of about one hundred individuals across two of India’s most populous states. These deaths were reported by authorities who were quoted by the Associated Press.
India has been dealing with oppressively hot weather in the run-up to the monsoon season, despite the fact that the current summer has not yet eclipsed the record high temperatures set during the previous year’s summer. Because to the high levels of humidity, temperatures in certain areas reached 46 degrees Celsius (about 115 degrees Fahrenheit) in the month of June. Even temperatures that are just slightly above average may be lethal in such an environment.
Temperatures in the region have ranged between 43 and 44 degrees Celsius over the previous several days, which has coincided with the high number of fatalities that have been reported in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh state over the past three days. In spite of this, several explanations have been provided by authorities, with state authorities claiming that there is a lack of “solid evidence” attributing the fatalities to the heat.
As a direct result of this, a committee has been constituted to look into the situation. The chief medical superintendent of the Ballia District Hospital, who had ascribed the fatalities to heatstroke, was apparently dismissed from their job, as reported by The Indian Express. This comes after the chief medical superintendent had attributed the deaths to heatstroke.
According to reports from the Associated Press, the neighbouring state of Bihar recorded 42 fatalities over the course of the previous two days.
