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Mexico has recorded 48 deaths due to the intense heat season it has suffered since last March, the Government reported this Friday, at a time when scientists warn that temperature records could rise in the coming days.
An epidemiological bulletin from the secretariat of Healthwith data up to May 21st, also details that 956 people They suffered various effects due to high temperatures.
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“In the current hot season (which began on March 17th and runs until October 5th), there is a cumulative total of (…) 48 deaths National level”says the report sent to the press by the Ministry of Health.
In 2023, a record number of deaths was set with 419 in the almost eight months that the hot season lasts in Mexicoaccording to official statistics.
“This hot situation (…) is exceptional”Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said this Friday at his press conference.
“It is a very unfortunate natural phenomenon, which has to do with the climate change“added the president, emphasizing that high temperatures accompanied by little wind worsen the problem of pollution in Mexico City.
The State of Vera Cruz (east), with an extensive coastline in Gulf of Mexicorecords the highest number of deaths, with 14, followed by Tabasco (south), Saint Louis Potosi (north) and Tamaulipas(Northeast) with eight each.
Uriel Mayor works sweeping the streets of the port of Vera Cruz and comments that he has increased precautionary measures, such as drinking more water and stopping work so as not to spend so much time in the sun.
“We constantly have to stop for five or ten minutes due to the high temperatures.“, said this 26-year-old young man, who claims to have known one of the fatal victims.
According to National Water Commission (meteorological authority), on May 9, in a dozen Mexican cities, thermometers reached levels never seen before.
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Bad prognosis
State scientists National Autonomous University of Mexico They warned on Wednesday that in the next two weeks the heat could intensify even further and break historic records.
2024 is on the way “to be the hottest year in history”he said at a press conference Francisco Estradacoordinator of University Program for Research on Climate Change.
Mexico City and its metropolitan region, where around 22 million people live, this season accumulated two records that surpassed the previous record from 1998: 34.2ºC on April 15th and 34.3ºC on May 9th.
Estrada highlighted that we are experiencing a global phenomenon, since 47 countries are suffering high temperatures resulting from the warming of the planet.
The intense heat, which ran out of water bottles and ice bags in stores in the Mexican capital, combined with the lack of wind, caused pollution in the megacity where around 6.5 million vehicles circulate.
Because of this, a state of alert was declared on days with high levels of pollution, which was withdrawn from circulation for more than 20% of cars.
The capital’s authorities issue constant recommendations due to the heat and pollution, such as staying at home, using sunscreen and hydrating.
One of the most dramatic cases is the death of dozens of howler monkeys in the jungle of the states of Tabasco It is Chiapasin the south of the country, apparently due to temperatures exceeding 45ºC.
Víctor Morato, director of a veterinary hospital in Comalcalo, Tabascohe explained to AFP that the animals faint in the heat and fall from trees 15 to 20 meters high.
“When they arrived here in their agony, they reached out to us as if to say ‘Help me‘. It leaves me with a lump in my throat“, commented this week the doctor, who has already treated eight copiessome of them with a body temperature of 43ºC.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
