People in Thai North hit by cold snap

CHIANG MAI, November 26 (TNA) - People in the Thai North, including those in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son Provinces, have been hit by a seasonal cold snap, affecting their health. According to deputy chief of Chiang Mai's public health office Dr. Surasing Visarutrattana, some 200 locals of Om-Koi, one of two districts in Chiang Mai having been declared cold-hit disaster zones, have been treated for respiratory diseases at the Om-Koi Hospital per day lately, an about 20 per cent increase compared with those in the pre-cold period, resulting in the hospital's insufficient accommodations. In Mae Hong Son, Governor Kamthorn Thavornsatit has called a meeting of an ad-hoc command centre tasked with preventing and dealing with cold-related problems, at which authorities concerned assessed that Thailand's northern region should be hit a colder spell this year, in the wake of a longer period of the rainy season earlier, expected to then affect over 30,000 villagers in the province's all seven districts. (TNA)