Bhubaneswar: Eight people have been hospitalised after falling ill due to intense heat in Odisha, a senior official said Saturday.
Public Health Department Director Niranjan Mishra said that from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, five people were admitted to hospitals in Angul district due to over-exposure to sun and heat, while one such case each was reported in Khurda, Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh districts.
However, no report of any death due to sunstroke has been reported so far, he said.
He said hospital authorities across the state have been instructed to keep facilities ready to treat sunstroke patients.
“Special beds and adequate medicines have also been kept ready at primary health centres (PHC), community health centres (CHC) and district headquarters hospitals (DHH) for the treatment of sunstroke patients,” he said.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in the state rose to above 43 degrees Celsius, and as many as 21 places recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The industrial town of Angul in central Odisha was the hottest at 43.5 degrees Celsius, closely followed by Malkangiri (43.2) and Titlagarh and Boudh (both 43).
The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack registered the maximum temperature of 39.6 and 40.1 degrees Celsius respectively.
The IMD forecast that there will be no major change in the maximum temperature over the next 24 hours, and in the subsequent two days, it may dip by two-four degrees Celsius, with no major change thereafter.
It also issued a yellow warning (be updated), forecasting heat wave conditions at one or two places in Angul, Nayagarh, Bolangir, Malkangiri, Bhadrak, Gajapati and Boudh districts till Sunday.
Warm night conditions are likely to prevail at a few places in Bolangir, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Malkangiri, the weather office said.
However, the IMD’s Bhubaneswar centre also predicted thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in parts of Odisha over the next two days.
“Odisha is likely to receive rain or thunderstorms and lightning associated with gusty wind during the next two days,” the IMD said in a bulletin.
According to the weather office, hailstorms would occur at one or two places in Angul, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Cuttack districts on April 7.
Similarly, some places in Kandhamal, Ganjam, and Kalahandi districts may receive heavy rainfall on April 8.
In the wake of prevailing heat wave conditions in the state, the Special Relief Commissioner’s office on Saturday asked the sports department to restrict outdoor sports activities from 11 am to 3 pm as a precautionary measure.
Earlier, the labour department had put restrictions on workers engaging in labour-intensive work between 11 am and 3 pm. The Khurda district administration also reduced school timings to 6.30 am to 10.30 am.
PTI