C T Online Desk: Scores of people died due to cold-related diseases such as acute respiratory illnesses, largely in impoverished countryside, with winter progressing into its third week on the meteorological calendar.
A report released on Sunday by the Health Emergency Operation Centre at the Directorate General of Health Services confirmed 38 deaths in six districts, mostly from acute respiratory illnesses, between Sunday and November 14.
The deaths occurred in Cox’s Bazar, Chandpur, Mymensingh, Khagrachari, Rangamati and Chuadanga, the report said, containing no report of deaths from the northern region, the gateway of winter into Bangladesh.
Pockets of northern districts, meanwhile, saw temperature fall below 15 degrees Celsius as early as mid-November though the three-month-long winter officially begins in December.
New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat, citing the DGHS Rangpur divisional office, reported 71 deaths in the eight districts of the division in just three days ending on Sunday morning.
‘This happens every winter when flu and other cold diseases take toll on public health,’ said Mohammad Zahidul Islam, in charge, Health Operation Centre and Control Room.
As many as 3,13,101 people, mostly children and old persons, were hospitalised at government hospitals across the country since Nov 14, the report released by the Health Emergency Operation Centre said, with 2,23,457 hospital admissions in Dhaka division for diarrhoea.
Diaorrhea becomes more prevalent among children during winter when rota virus gets in wide circulation and concentration of polluters in water increases, health experts said.
‘Children and elderly people, both lacking in physical immunity, are susceptible to diseases particularly when winter sets in and withdraws,’ said Shahina Tabassuma, who teaches virology at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
Health experts advised that children and the elderly must wear warm clothes, especially outside, and remain cautious against catching pneumonia.
The government should without any delay vaccinate children and the elderly free of cost against rota virus and flu, said Shahina Tabassum.
A new study published on December 6 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which is published from the USA, revealed new evidence linking fall in the temperature to diseases such as otitis media, sinusitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The study by reducing the temperature inside the nose by 9 degrees Fahrenheit or 5 degrees Celsius found that it killed nearly 50 per cent of the billions of virus- and bacteria-fighting cells in the nostrils.
Socioeconomic conditions and behaviour can exacerbate these adverse effects of cold and winter, the study noted, adding that environmental factors can also make matters worse for upper respiratory tract infections in humans.
The daily minimum or nighttime temperature fluctuated around 15 degrees Celsius in Dhaka division with the daytime temperature remaining between 25 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.
Dhaka’s air was ranked the worst among the cities around the world in the Air Quality Index on Sunday, indicating that people avoid travelling outdoors because of hazardous weather.
Cold is particularly dangerous for children and the elderly in northern and north-western Bangladesh where a large number of the country’s poor live, often exposed to cold wind in their rickety homes.
‘Late hospitalisation is leading to deaths,’ said Shariful Hasan, director, Rangpur Medical College Hospital, admitting to an oxygen crisis at the health facility.
He, however, expected oxygen supply to improve soon.
Daily wage earners and farmers suffered a lot in the northern districts, often under-clothed, for they must go out in a chilling weather.
‘Early government help with warm clothes could help these poor people big,’ said Abdullah Al Hadi, chairman, Lakkhitari union, Gangachara, Rangpur.
No government support reached these poor people, many of whom live in hundreds of chars barely floating in rivers engulfed in dense fog most of the day and swept by chilly wind.
Sabirul Islam, divisional commissioner, Rangpur, said that distribution of quilt among the northern people would begin on December 20.
‘We have on the list those who need warm clothes,’ said Habib.
On Sunday, Tetulia, sitting on the country’s northern tip, recorded the country’s lowest minimum temperature of 12.4 degrees Celsius.
The temperature dipped to 9.3 degrees Celsius in Chuadanga on Saturday, the lowest temperature recorded so far this winter.
‘A cold wave may occur at the end of this month,’ said meteorologist Mohammad Shahinul Islam.
Usually, during winter, more than one cold wave visit December with temperature frequently falling below 10 degrees Celsius in northern Bangladesh.
The Met Office predicted frequent cold waves in January and advised all concerned to prepare for severe cold in pockets.
A mild cold wave occurs when the minimum temperature falls below 10 degrees Celsius. A moderate cold wave is when the minimum temperature stays between 8 degrees Celsius and 6 degrees Celsius.
A severe cold wave occurs when the minimum temperature drops below 6 degrees Celsius.
