Heatwave engulfs Delhi with highest ever temperature at 49C

Delhi registered its highest temperature since records began as a climate change-induced heatwave continued to engulf large parts of northern and central India.

Previously, Delhi’s highest-ever temperature recorded was 45.6C on April 29, 1941.

Parts of the Indian capital breached the 49C mark on Monday, triggering a warning from the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) advising against leaving the house unnecessarily and urging people to drink more water than usual.

India has endured a series of record-breaking heatwaves this year that experts are attributing to climate change. March was the hottest since records began, according to the IMD, while northwest and central India also saw their warmest April in history.

Health experts say hospital admissions for heat-related incidents has increased by 20 per cent and warned the situation will worsen.

Dr Ritu Sexena, from Delhi’s LNJP hospital, told the Telegraph: ‘‘There is definitely an increase in the number of patients coming to our hospital due to heatwave. We have received more than 150 patients in the past month and many of them were in bad shape.’’

Dr Saxena added that most of the patients were daily wage workers without cooling facilities at home or at workplaces.

So far, India has attributed around 30 deaths to the ongoing heatwave – but experts say the number will almost certainly be an undercount because these types of fatalities are usually registered as multiple organ failure.

In Delhi, people were seen covering their heads with wet cloth and pouring water on their bodies as they struggled with the heat.

The heatwave has also had a major impact on people with mental health illnesses, with dehydration and electrolyte imbalance aggravating behavioural symptoms.

In March, the Central Institute of Psychiatry in the central Indian state of Ranchi recorded a rise in admissions – a trend that usually begins in April and lasts until the end of June.

‘‘This year from March we saw an unprecedented rise in the footfall of the patients affected by the heatwave which disturbs the mental equilibrium of the people,’’ said Dr Basudeb Das, director at CIP Ranchi.

Dr Das added the the institute had seen more than 25,000 patients since March, 20 per cent of them suffering complications linked to the heatwave. –