India, Jan. 31 -- Under the National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH), officials from the Health Department said on Friday that a spike in acute respiratory illness (ARI) cases was recorded across seven sentinel sites in the district during the winter of 2025 compared to previous years.

Health department data from January 2026 showed that between October and December 2025, 2,293 of 37,898 medical emergencies were ARI-related, up from 1,935 in the same period in 2024. Compared to the previous winter spell in 2024, the data accessed by HT showed this year's trends, revealing a spike of about 358 cases between October and December with ARIs, such as asthma, cold and cough, bronchitis, and nasobronchial allergies due to ...