London, May 26 (IANS) The UK government on Tuesday issued Heat-Health Alerts (HHA) across England amid rising temperatures across the country.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued an ‘Amber Alert’ for the East Midlands, East of England, London, West Midlands, South East and South West regions and a ‘Yellow Alert’ for the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber regions on May 26.
According to the UKHSA, the alerts are effective until 5 pm Thursday, May 28.
The Yellow alerts indicate a low impact and show a greater risk to the lives of vulnerable people, according to UKHSA.
The Amber alert indicates a medium impact. Significant impacts are likely across health and social care services due to the high temperatures.
This may result in a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. There may also be impacts on younger age groups.
According to leading UK daily ‘The Guardian’, highs of 35 degrees Celsius are expected for large swathes of Southern England and Wales on Tuesday, a Met Office meteorologist stated.
The heatwave threshold might be reached in many places across England and Wales with some places having to experience it for five days by Wednesday, he noted.
Steve Kocher, Deputy Chief Forecaster at the UK Met Office said that it was likely that Britain’s May and spring temperature records would be broken over the Bank Holiday weekend, with forecast temperatures surpassing the existing record of 32.8 degrees Celsius. He said much of the country would also see dry and sunny weather, Xinhua news agency reported.
Fountains across the city centre have become popular cooling spots, with children running through the water and families lingering nearby. Long queues also formed outside ice cream shops, as residents and tourists looked for ways to cool down amid the unusually high temperatures, it added.
–IANS
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