Hot weather has been blamed for more than 110 children being admitted to Lao Cai Province General Hospital No. 1 with pneumonia and viral fevers since early this month.

Nguyen Van Suu, director of the province’s Preventive Health Center, said the unusual heat plus a little rain had made more children and old people sick.

The number of in-patients Tuesday and Monday at district hospitals across Lao Cai jumped by 30 percent from previous days.

These hospitals only have 60-80 beds each but had received nearly 200 in-patients a day.

Tuesday was the third day of extreme heat this year, said director Bui Minh Tang of the National Hydro-meteorology Forecast Center.

Cool air on a hot day

Air conditioner sales in Hanoi have risen this month as people try to beat the heat.

Air-conditioner supermarkets in Hanoi have seen twice as many customers on recent days and some do not have enough technicians to install the machines at people’s houses.

Ngo Thanh Dat, marketing director of electrical-goods seller PICO Company in the city, said PICO on Monday sold 357 air conditioners, more than triple the normal sales of 100, and four to five times more electric fans than normal.

Fans, fridges and air conditioners at Hanoi - Cho Lon Limited over the weekend accounted for 70 percent of the company’s total sales, instead of the normal 30 percent.

Many swimming pools in the city were also crowded with people waiting in lines from early morning to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“Nowhere to go in this heat,” said Nguyen Van Tuyen at Linh Dam swimming pool. “It would be stuffy to stay indoors all day, so I asked my son if he wanted to go swimming.”

Swimmers at Ho Tay Water Park at the weekend doubled in number compared to normal days of 7,000-8,000.

The National Hydro-meteorology Forecast Center said the northern region will have a brief cool change but will heat up again for the weekend.

The central region will remain hot through the week reaching 39 degrees Celsius by early next week, the center forecasted.

Source: TN, VNA