35K lives lost to extreme temperatures during 2001-19: Study

At least 35,000 lives were lost in India due to exposure to extreme hot and cold temperatures between 2001 and 2019, a new study has found.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

In 2015 alone, it estimated 1,907 deaths due to a heatstroke and 1,147 because of cold exposure. Data for analysis was taken from the India Meteorological Department and National Crime Records Bureau, among other datasets.

Findings, published in the journal Temperature, show an upward-moving, increasing trend in deaths due to a heatstroke and exposure to cold temperatures. Lead author Pradeep Guin from O P Jindal Global University, Haryana, said that deaths due to expo-sure to extreme temperatures are avoidable and that measures to mitigate health impacts need to be put in place.