On May 3, Xinhua News Agency quoted an official from the Mani Sala Rescue Organization as saying that in April, there were more than 50 deaths due to heat stroke in Mandalay, central Myanmar.
Of the deaths, about 30 people had underlying medical conditions, most of them aged between 50 and 90. Heatstroke rates have spiked in Myanmar amid a severe heatwave in April that has sent many people to hospital.
Hospitalizations due to heat stress also increased sharply, from eight in March to more than 50 in April.
According to the Myanmar Meteorological and Hydrological Department, April 28 was the hottest day in April in Mandalay in the past 77 years, with temperatures reaching 44.8℃.
A woman covers her head to protect herself from the sun as she walks on a hot day in Yangon on April 25.
Myanmar authorities announced that they recorded a temperature of 48.2℃ in Chauk town in the central province of Magway on April 28 - the highest temperature in April in Myanmar since data was collected 56 years ago, according to AFP.
April and May are typically the hottest months on record in Myanmar. Temperatures in Yangon were above 40℃ on the same day, while Mandalay recorded temperatures exceeding 44℃. Daytime temperatures in most parts of Myanmar in the middle of last week were recorded at 3-4℃ higher than the average for April.
According to scientists, climate change is contributing to more frequent, more severe and longer heat waves during the summer months.
Large swathes of Asia are experiencing a severe heatwave. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization says Asia is warming at an exceptionally fast rate, with increasingly severe effects.
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