BANGKOK (AFP) – Thailand issued fresh warnings about scorching hot weather Thursday as the government said heatstroke has already killed at least 30 people this year.
City authorities in Bangkok gave an extreme heat warning as the heat index was expected to rise above 52 degrees Celsius (˚C).
Temperatures in the concrete sprawl of the Thai capital hit 40.1˚C for the past two days.
A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted parts of South and Southeast Asia this week, prompting schools across the Philippines to suspend classes and worshippers in Bangladesh to pray for rain.
Authorities in Udon Thani province, in the kingdom’s rural northeast, also warned of blazing temperatures Thursday.
The health ministry said late on Wednesday that 30 people had died from heatstroke between January 1 and April 17, compared with 37 in the whole of 2023.
Deputy director-general of Thailand’s Department of Disease Control Direk Khampaen told AFP that officials were urging elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions including obesity to stay indoors and drink water regularly.
Across the border in Myanmar, the temperature reached a blazing 45.9˚C for the past two days.
The chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup has led to rolling power blackouts in much of the country, hampering people’s ability to keep cool with fans and air-conditioning.
