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The female emergency ward of the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi runs out of beds due to a large number of patients who came to the health facility with complaints of heatstroke, acute dehydration or diarrohea, on Wednesday.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
KARACHI: Amid an acute shortage of oral rehydration salts (ORS) not only in Karachi but across the country, cases of heat-related illnesses are on the rise due to harsh weather conditions that prevail in the metropolis for more than a week, it emerged on Wednesday.
The heat-related illnesses include viral infections and diarrhoea. ORS is an effective treatment for diarrhoea and dehydration, but it has just disappeared from the city markets.
Sources said that many affected patients were reporting at general physicians’ clinics where they were prescribed symptomatic medications to reduce the severity of the symptoms and asked to increase fluid intake.
Dr Khatri explained that heatwaves accelerated growth of all kinds of germs, including viruses. Hence, it’s common to see a spike in infectious diseases, especially viral infections, in persisting high temperatures. The symptomatic treatment provided relief to patients, helping them to build immunity against the infection.
Experts believe that the diarrhoea cases being reported these days are also directly linked to the ongoing heatwave, forcing people to consume cold juices being sold on roadsides that are often made with contaminated water or prepared with poor hygiene.
Citizens cool down amidst the hot weather at Sea View Beach in Karachi on June 30. — APP https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaMc238IiRov8okfYy3n - Met official says city’s monthly average temperature remained 4 degrees Celsius higher than average during the ongoing heatwave- High levels of humidity make weather ‘very difficult to bear’- With 39.2°C on Sunday, feels-like temperature surges to 55°C at 5pm
KARACHI: The city remained in the grip of sweltering weather conditions for the eighth consecutive day on Sunday on account of continued disruption of the sea breeze caused by a low atmospheric pressure area prevailing over southeast of Karachi.
Chief Meteorologist Dr Sardar Safaraz told Dawn that the current weather conditions were the hottest since the 2015 heatwave during which the maximum temperature surged to 44.8°C.
“We are seeing a repeat of similar weather conditions after nine years. The deviation from monthly average temperature remained around or above four degrees Celsius in Karachi during the ongoing heatwave,” he said when asked about the intensity of the ongoing heatwave.
Global warming and extreme weather phenomena can increase inflation and the debt-to-GDP ratio.
What happens to an economy when it is hot outside? Globally, record-breaking temperatures have been witnessed in the past few years. Evidence shows that heat waves dampen economic output, causing GDP losses and exacerbating further global inequality. Similarly, projections for the US economy show that rising temperatures could reduce economic growth by up to one-third over the next century.
Nonetheless, the assumption that the economic damage from global warming is only confined to the agriculture sector is no longer true as climate change and environmental degradation pose significant risks to macroeconomy and financial systems. For example, climate change will affect individual and household income, sectors of the economy, energy markets, inflation variability, financial markets, innovation, and rising public debt, among others.
While rising global temperatures have profound impacts on economies all over the world, the phenomenon is still poorly understood due to the complexity of climate-related risks and their interactions with the real economy.
KARACHI: The city continued to experience hot and humid weather conditions on Wednesday as maximum temperature reached to 37.1° Celsius with 65 per cent relative humidity.
Officials said that the feels-like temperature surged to 55°C in the city.
According to the Met Department’s forecast, the weather will remain cloudy but hot and humid conditions are likely to prevail on Thursday (today) with maximum temperature ranging between 35-37°C.
Humidity levels are expected to range between 70 to 80pc in the morning and 55 to 65pc in the evening.