INDIA'S death toll from one of the world's deadliest heatwaves has climbed to more than 2,200.

THE southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana saw the most deaths after temperatures in the past week soared to their highest sustained levels in 12 years.
The total toll in both states stood at 2,177, after about 200 more deaths were reported between Friday and Saturday, officials said. Andhra Pradesh recorded a total of 1,636 deaths while Telangana accounted for 541. More than 60 deaths were reported from Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states, as well as the national capital, New Delhi, local reports said. The heatwave in India is the fifth deadliest heatwave in the world and second deadliest in India, according to Emergency Events
Database (EM-DAT), an international disasters database. According to data on EM-DAT, the deadliest heatwave on record in India was in 1998, killing 2,541 people. The most lethal heatwave in the world was the one that hit Europe in 2003, killing more than 71,000 people. Temperatures at many places in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana hovered between 40C and 45C. Isolated showers failed to provide any relief. Most of the victims were poor, forced to work in the open because of their livelihoods, or elderly. In a radio address on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Indians to not only drink plenty of water and keep their bodies covered to avoid sunstroke, but also to care for birds, animal and cattle, by providing them water. India's monsoon rains - which were expected to start on Monday this year - have been delayed by two days and would hit the southern coast of Kerala by Wednesday, local media reported quoting weather experts.