India’s federal government will send teams to assist and advise heat-affected states, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday, as local authorities and hospitals in the country’s north and east grapple with sweltering temperatures.
Government officials have resisted directly connecting high humidity and temperatures around 43 degrees Celsius to 44 C to an apparent rise in fatalities, and authoritative data are limited. But administrators have begun to draw attention to the needs and health distress of people struggling with extreme conditions.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a powerful firebrand, is among those who have not directly commented on the loss of life, but has ordered officials to ensure rapid treatment of people suffering from heat-related symptoms, plus the provision of power and water supplies.