Min temperature shoots up into 20s again, leads to spurt in virals
Times of India | 12 February 2025
12 Kolkata: After three days of staying below the normal mark, the minimum temperature jumped more than five notches in Kolkata on Tuesday. At 22.5°C, it was close to five notches above normal and a significant leap from Monday's 17.4°C. Even as the mercury is expected to remain around this mark until Thursday, the Met office has predicted a fall from Friday onwards. The Met office has also issued a dense fog warning for Wednesday morning in Kolkata and its neighbouring districts.
The mercury fluctuations, however, are leading to a range of health issues, affecting everyone, but individuals at the two extreme ends of age are the most vulnerable. These issues range from respiratory infections to gastrointestinal problems, as well as the harmless nagging cold and cough.
"We expect the mercury to remain this high for the next two days before it starts declining. At present, the city's wind system is dominated by the southerly component. There is an increasing flow of moisture from the sea that is pushing up the temperature. In addition, we can expect moderate to dense fog in Kolkata and some southern districts on Wednesday morning," said Sourish Bandyopadhyay, a weather scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata.
Joydeep Ghosh, internal medicine consultant at Fortis Anandapur, said the erratic mercury fluctuation was leading to a surge in respiratory infections and flu cases. "The most common symptoms include cough and cold, fever, sore throat, skin irritation, fungal infections and gastrointestinal infections, such as loose motion and diarrhoea," said Ghosh.
This winter, the city has not experienced any long cold spell. Every time the mercury dipped, bringing in the cold feeling, weather systems like western disturbances disrupted it, causing frequent mercury see-saw.
From Friday onwards, the city is likely to have the northerly wind system dominating the warm and moist southerly wind system. In such a case, the moisture content in the land will decrease, clearing the way for the mercury to drop again. "By Saturday, the minimum temperature in Kolkata could dip to around 18°C. In that case, the mercury will hover around the normal mark or slightly below," added Bandyopadhyay.
Health experts said the temperature fluctuation could trigger both asthmatic reactions and viral infections but warn against self-medication as the condition is mostly self-limiting. "This kind of temperature fluctuation can affect local immunity. In addition to viral infections, allergic conditions can also aggravate. At present, in addition to viral infections like para influenza, Influenza B, RS virus and rhinovirus, we are also seeing a few bacterial infections. Individuals at the two extremes of age and those with comorbidities like COPD are the most vulnerable," said microbiologist Bhaskar Narayan Chaudhury of Peerless Hospital.
Doctors also advised avoiding cold aerated drinks and not doing away with warm clothes completely.