Bangladesh faces longest-ever heatwave

The authorities in Bangladesh have issued another heatwave alert for three more days from Sunday as the South Asian country is facing its longest heatwave in 75 years.

Bangladesh reported the season's highest temperature at 42.7 degrees Celsius on Friday in the south-western district of Chuadanga. Dhaka's maximum temperature was 38.2 degrees that day, according to Meteorological data.

The blistering heat has forced the government to shut schools for a week, with hospitals preparing to receive higher numbers of patients with heat-related ailments.

The heatwave reached a 29th day on Sunday, the longest since the government started keeping records in 1948, said meteorologist Shaheenul Islam.

The previously record hot spell of 23 days was recorded in 2019, according to data tracked by Bangladesh's Meteorological Department.

"The hot spell is impacting more than 50 out of 64 administrative districts," said Khandaker Hafizur Rahman, another meteorologist.

Rahman said hot weather is likely to continue until the first week of May.

Physician Mohammad Niatuzzaman, head of state-run Mughdah Hospital in Dhaka, said his hospital received a large number of patients suffering from heatstroke, dehydration, exhaustion and respiratory problems.

Thousands of worshippers in different parts of Muslim-majority Bangladesh prayed in the past week for rain in line with an Islamic tradition.