Winter woes continue as cold-related diseases kill 50 since Nov

Parts of Bangladesh shivering in bone-chilling winter will have little to no respite in the coming week as the government reports 50 deaths from cold-related diseases since November.

The Met Office on Sunday said temperature across the country will rise gradually from Tuesday (December 31) but the mercury will fall again after rain likely to occur in the first week of January.

Panchagarh shivered in 4.5 degrees Celsius temperature on Sunday, the lowest of this season, as a cold wave sweeps over the northern part of the country, the Met Office said in a regular forecast.

Mild to moderate cold waves sweeping over Rangpur, Rajshahi and Mymensingh divisions and the regions of Kushtia, Moulvibazar and Tangail may continue.

The weather will likely remain dry until Monday evening while moderate to thick fog may occur at places during midnight to morning, said Met Office.

Meanwhile, cold-related diseases affected 4,150 people across the country in the last 24 hours, the government said.

Data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) control room showed that the patients were treated for acute respiratory infection, diarrhoea, and other diseases including jaundice, inflammation in the eye, skin diseases, and fever.

Fifty people were killed by cold-related diseases since Nov 1.

Tetulia keeps shivering

“The season’s lowest temperature was recorded in Tetulia at 9am,” said M Rohidul Islam Rohid, acting officer of Tetulia Weather Observatory.

He said the temperature was 5.4C at 6am and it fell to 4.5 degrees at 9am.

The sun was out in the morning but it did not make any difference.

Tetulia, the last border town in Bangladesh’s north, regularly experiences bone-chilling cold during winter. On January 8 last year, the mercury plummeted to 2.6C, the lowest-ever recorded temperature in Bangladesh’s history.

Panchangarh has a population of 5,44,746, according to government data. The district administration said it distributed about 40,000 blankets so far but the cold-affected people say the number is scant.