March 2022 was the warmest in Pakistan since 1961. For the first time in decades, the country has gone straight from winter to summer without having spring, reports Reuters.
Even in India, March has been unusually warm - the warmest since the measurements started in 1901, reports AP.
In southern India, some schools have been closed all week.
Approaching the 50 mark
The weather authority IMD has issued heat warnings.
The heat wave is likely to affect over a billion people and temperatures can in some places approach the 50 mark, according to Meteorologist Scott Duncan, who is referenced by TT.
The authority urges people to avoid exposing themselves to the heat, wear light and light cotton clothing and protect their heads with a hat or umbrella.
According to forecasts, the temperatures in the next few days will end up at the same levels as the heat waves in India and Pakistan in May and June 2015. At that time, at least 4,500 people died in the heat.
India extra vulnerable
India is, according to an article in The Lancet to which the AP refers, together with Brazil among the countries in the world that have the highest heat-related mortality.
The number of patients with heat-related ailments has also increased in recent days, says Fusaram Bishnoi, a doctor in Rajasthan.
It has been about heat stroke, but also ailments caused by food that has become bad in the heat.
"We tell people not to go out during the day and to drink more, more water," he told The New York Times.
However, the heat is expected to subside on Sunday, May 1, in eastern India and a day later in the northwestern and central parts of the country.