印度官员18日称，印度近期持续遭遇热浪袭击，首都新德里17日最高气温接近44摄氏度，创下52年以来4月气温新高；4月份全国至少有80人死于高温天气。

An Indian woman covers her head with a stole on a hot day in New Delhi on April 16. India sizzled Monday in a heatwave that has sent temperatures in the national capital soaring to their highest levels for April in 50 years.

A severe heatwave sweeping¹ India, with temperatures of almost 44ºC, the highest in 52 years, has killed at least 80 people this month, officials said on Sunday.

The scorching²（灼热的，激烈的） weather, which officials say would continue over northern, north-western and central India in the next 48 hours, also may have some impact on wheat production, exporters and flour-mill associations said.

New Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 43.7ºC on Saturday, presaging³（预感，预言） a hot summer in the next two months in the nation's capital and other parts of northern and eastern India.

The highest temperature in the past 24 hours was 47ºC at Ganganagar city, in Rajasthan state.

Summer temperatures have been 4ºC-6ºC above normal over most parts of northern and central India since March, weather officials said.

Schools closed

In the eastern state of Orissa, authorities have decided⁴ to shut down schools from next Tuesday, advancing the annual summer holiday.

Authorities said they were investigating reports of 53 deaths from various parts of the state.

"District collectors have been asked to investigate and submit reports on other deaths," Bhimsen Gochhayat, a government official, said.

Other deaths were reported from northern state of Uttar Pradesh and central Madhya Pradesh states.

India is expected to produce about 82 million tons of wheat in 2009-2010, but there could be a shortage of 1-1.5 million tons due to the heatwave, said Veena Sharma, Secretary General of the Roller Flour Millers⁵ Federation⁶ of India.

Monsoon⁷

"Most of the harvesting is over, but there definitely will be a slight shortage of 1-1.5 million tons due to the extreme weather conditions," she told Reuters.

India is relying on a bumper⁸（丰盛的，丰富的） wheat crop to make up for a 14.2% drop in rice output（产量，出产） , the major summer-sown food grain（粮食，谷物） , marred⁹ by the worst monsoon（季候风，雨季） in 37 years last year.

"The time it (wheat) normally takes to get ripe has been shortened and as a result the size of the grain could be smaller with a marginal effect（边缘效应） on production," D P Singh, president of the All India Grain Exporters Association, said on Sunday.

Weather officials say with summer temperatures in India set to remain above average, there were hopes of heavy rains at the start of the monsoon season that will help early sowing of rice, soybeans（黄豆，大豆） and lentils（扁豆） .