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The New Year’s dawn might bring up to 3C drop in the temperature, warned the Bangladesh Meteorological Department on Monday.

Dense fog, particularly in the northern region and especially in the morning hours, is likely to drastically reduce visibility and add to the feeling of cold, the Met Office warned. 

Forecasts about the temperature plunge and occurrence of dense fog bring fresh worries for millions in Bangladesh where travelling through unsafe roads got even riskier amidst fog.

For millions, absorbing the cold bite became more difficult than ever before, particularly because of the inflation that greatly reduced people’s purchasing capacity, making it difficult for them to get enough food,

let alone clothing, experts said.

A study released in the middle of December revealed that over the past two years 78 lakh people were pushed into poverty with 38 lakh of them extremely poor.

‘By the day after tomorrow the temperature might fall by up to 3C at places with cold waves setting in in pockets of Rangpur and Rajshahi,’ meteorologist AKM Nazmul Hoque told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Monday.

Moderate to dense fog is likely to occur in the northern region, he said, adding that that the rest of the country would experience fog more or less.

Winter officially begins in Bangladesh in December. So far only a brief cold wave was recorded this year. 

While cities lacking greenery and covered in concrete still feel rather warm, pockets of rural areas have been experiencing mild to moderate cold for about two months now.  

The Directorate General of Health Services began keeping record of the breakout of cold-related diseases on November 1.

At least 48 people have died of cold-related diseases, including 47 deaths linked with acute respiratory infection, the DGHS said. 

Cold diarrhoea killed one and caused hospitalisation of 1,03,328 people, the DGHS report said, adding that 40,276 people were hospitalised with cold-related diseases affecting the respiratory system. 

‘We start counting cold-related diseases the moment we feel that the drop in temperature has played a role in it,’ said Mohammad Zahidul Islam, in charge of the Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room of the  DGHS. 

Of the deaths, 22 were reported in Mymensingh division, 11 in Chattogram division, six in Dhaka division, five in Khulna division, three in Barishal division and one in Sylhet Division.   

January usually records several spells of intense cold with the temperature often falling below 10C and occasionally below 5C, particularly in remote rural areas.

On Monday, Bangladesh’s lowest temperature of 9.8C was recorded at Tetulia. The day temperature however remained as high as 30C along the southern coast.

Most intense cold is felt in the northern and south-western regions, home to the country’s one of the poorest people accommodated in dilapidated housing and barely clothed.

Elders and children bear the brunt of winter.

‘Cold bite amid pollution might have caused the deaths,’ said public health expert Rashid-e-Mahbub.

Bangladesh’s air is ranked one of the worst in the world almost daily largely because of its soaring fossil fuel consumption. The construction of infrastructures without proper management of dust worsens the air pollution. 

Rashid said that the worst victims of cold, who lost their loved ones, are often the poor without the means to get good quality food and wear warm clothes.

‘But who is bringing to the home of the poor those basic necessities?’ asked Rashid.

‘I guess nobody,’ he answered himself.