New Delhi has suffered its coldest day in 44 years amid a cold snap across northern India, the local weather office said on Thursday.

The maximum day temperature on Wednesday reached just 9.8 degrees Celsius (49.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the lowest since the winter of 1969 when records first began, an official in the local meteorological department told AFP, with a minimum of 4.8 Celsius. There is expected to be little respite in the coming few days with the weather office forecasting that chilly conditions will prevail.