One person died and three people are being hospitalized with symptoms of heat stroke, Spokesperson of the State Health Services Organisation Charalampos Charilaou has told CNA. Charilaou said that a 90-year-old man lost his life due to heat stroke, while at the moment three more people are being hospitalized, two aged 78 and 77 years old, whose condition is described as serious, at the Nicosia General Hospital and a 80-year-old who is intubated in the Intensive Care Unit at the Limassol General Hospital. Meanwhile, temperatures are expected to remain above 40 degrees until Thursday. Director of the Department of Meteorology Dr. Kleanthis Nikolaides told CNA that today temperatures will reach 41 degrees Celsius inland, 35-37 at the coast and 32 at the higher mountains. "No significant change in temperature is expected in the following days until Wednesday, Thursday" he said. He noted that in the coming days temperatures are expected to be above 40, noting that the normal temperatures for this period are around 37 to 38 degrees inland, 30 to 33 at the coastal towns and around 28 at the mountains. The Spokesperson of the State Health Services Organisation Charalampos Charilaou told CNA that the main symptoms of heatstroke are initially a severe headache, feeling exhausted, lethargy, a tendency to faint and difficulty to breath. Nausea, vomiting, or very high fever and diarrhea can often occur, as well as confusion or disorientation. He called upon the public, especially the vulnerable groups, to be extremely careful, to stay in shady areas, preferably with air-conditioning, avoid the sun for long hours, hydrate, be dressed lightly and if they present any symptom to contact their GP immediately. Vulnerable groups include people over the age of 65, people with heart failure, people with chronic kidney or liver disease, people with a history of previous heat stroke, overweight people and those who work under high temperatures. Charilaou said that the hospitals are ready for the admission of any incidents, noting that this is not the first time they deal with incidents of heat stroke. We are fully ready to deal with any incidents, he said. The Director of the Meteorology Department Dr Kleanthis Nicolaides noted that it is not the first time that the area of Cyprus is being affected by such high temperatures, but he said that temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius are not common. It's more common, he said, to have 42 or even 43 degrees Celsius, and even more often 40 or 41 degrees. He said that from 10:00 am until 4:00 to 5:00 pm there is high risk due to radiation, especially during 12:00 to 3:00 pm when the phenomenon is extremely dangerous due to the intensity of the solar radiation but also due to the high temperatures. Nikolaides said that the Department of Meteorology monitors the evolution of the phenomenon and issues weather forecast every eight hours. He explained that for the last five to six days Cyprus has been affected by a high pressure system which extends from the Atlantic region. This high pressure system is a permanent high pressure system that affects Cyprus both in winter and summer. He said that in the summer there is an other system in the region, a thermal low, and the combination of these two systems has this year resulted in very high temperatures and dry air mass in the region of central and eastern Mediterranean. As a result, he said, we've had extreme high temperatures, with the temperature on Saturday, for example, reaching 45 degrees Celsius inland.
Source: Cyprus News Agency