9 July, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The Vitebsk ambulance service has been reinforced with additional crews for the "Slavyansky Bazaar" festival, the deputy chief physician for medical affairs of the Vitebsk City Ambulance and Emergency Medical Aid Station, Oksana Grigorovich, told a BELTA correspondent. For the period of the International Festival of Arts "Slavyansky Bazaar in Vitebsk", five crews from Orsha, Polotsk (2 each) and Novopolotsk have been additionally engaged to the existing 34 for duty in the regional center. Medical personnel will begin working in enhanced readiness mode from July 10. Twenty-one mobile crews will be on duty at the venues of mass events, concerts, and festivities. Oksana Grigorovich also noted that the scorching weather prevailing since the beginning of July has not significantly affected the number of calls. "Over the past week, only two calls were related to sunburns and one to heatstroke. The number of calls from patients with cardiovascular diseases has remained virtually at the same level," she stated, reminding of the need to observe basic safety rules in hot weather: carry water, and do not forget headwear. As BELTA was informed by "Vitebskoblgidromet", today the region recorded the highest night temperature in the last 16 years. It reached 21.7 degrees, breaking the 1996 record of 19.6 degrees Celsius. In general, the first decade of the month in the Vitebsk region was 6-8 degrees above the climatic norm. Today, the heat in the region will still persist: in Vitebsk, the temperature will be 30-32 degrees. However, an atmospheric front will pass in the near future, bringing rain and a slight decrease in temperature. On July 10-11, temperatures of 23-28 degrees Celsius are expected, after which the heat will subside, and the weather will approach its climatic norm within 20-25 degrees. -0-

BELTA