India has two public health problems running in parallel this April. One is ancient, seasonal and kills more people every year than most viral outbreaks. The other is rare, deadly, and has no vaccine. Both deserve your attention. Neither is getting enough of it.
The Heatwave Crisis: A National Emergency Without That Label
Start with what IMD said just days ago. In its April-June 2026 seasonal forecast, the India Meteorological Department said above-normal heatwave days are likely across coastal Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, and isolated pockets of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Night-time temperatures will also be above normal across most of the country. IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the likelihood of more heatwave days is higher for April-June than it was for March-May.
Why does this matter for your health? Because every heatwave season, thousands of Indians die — not on any single dramatic day, but quietly, over weeks. In 2023, over 733 heatstroke deaths were recorded across 17 states between March and June, according to the "Heat Watch 2024" report. In 2010, a single heatwave in Ahmedabad killed approximately 1,300 people. In 2003, another wave across Andhra Pradesh killed over 3,000.
Doctors across the country are already seeing early signs. The Week magazine on April 8 quoted health experts warning of a seasonal surge in heat-related illnesses. The four main threats are heat stroke (high body temperature, confusion, dizziness, fainting), dehydration (fatigue, dizziness that turns dangerous), cardiovascular stress particularly for existing heart patients — because extreme heat forces the heart to work harder to cool the body — and exacerbation of respiratory conditions.
The people most at risk are outdoor workers — construction labourers, farmers, auto-rickshaw drivers, street vendors. They work from 9 AM to 5 PM, precisely the period when heat is most dangerous. Many do not have access to cooled spaces. Many cannot afford ORS sachets or electrolyte drinks. For them, the IMD seasonal forecast is not an abstract statistic. It is a sentence.
India still does not officially classify heatwaves as natural disasters under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. This matters because disaster classification unlocks compensation, emergency response funds, and formal government accountability. Multiple experts have called for this change for years. It hasn't happened. State-level Heat Action Plans exist in some states — Ahmedabad's was the first in Asia — but most have no dedicated funding and many recommendations go unimplemented.
The Nipah Watch: Contained, But Not Forgotten
Then there is Nipah. Earlier this year, in December 2025 and January 2026, two healthcare workers — both nurses in their 20s — from Barasat, North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal tested positive for Nipah virus. India's Ministry of Health deployed a National Joint Outbreak Response Team. Contact tracing identified 196 people. By January 27, 2026, the NCDC announced that all 196 contacts had tested negative. The Indian government declared the outbreak contained.
But "contained" is not the same as "over." Nipah is a zoonotic virus carried by fruit bats. It spreads to humans through contaminated food — particularly raw date-palm sap — or through direct contact with infected animals or people. It kills between 40 and 75 percent of those it infects, according to WHO figures. There is no approved vaccine, no proven antiviral treatment. The only approach is isolation, contact tracing, and supportive care.
Several Asian countries — Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Vietnam, Hong Kong — tightened airport screening in January after the West Bengal cases. WHO assessed the wider spread risk as low, noting no sustained human-to-human transmission. But scientists at Tufts University's School of Medicine noted that Nipah has limited but documented person-to-person spread in healthcare settings, and that India's recurring outbreaks — Kerala has seen multiple since 2018, West Bengal in 2001 and again in 2026 — are a reason for sustained surveillance.
As April heats up and fruit bat activity increases in some regions, health authorities in Kerala, West Bengal and neighbouring states need to stay on high alert. The advice from public health experts is clear: avoid raw date-palm sap, report fever clusters among healthcare workers promptly, and do not reduce hospital surveillance protocols just because the last outbreak was contained.
HEALTH ALERTS — APRIL 9, 2026
- IMD: Above-normal heatwave days expected in Odisha, West Bengal, AP, TN, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka (April–June)
- High-risk groups: elderly, children, outdoor workers, heart patients
- Prevention: Stay indoors 11 AM–4 PM, hydrate, wear light clothing
- Nipah: Two cases (healthcare workers, W. Bengal) — declared contained Jan 27, 2026
- Nipah contacts: 196 traced; all tested negative
- Nipah fatality rate: 40–75% | No approved vaccine or treatment
- Surveillance active: Kerala, West Bengal; multiple Asian countries on watch