Biting cold and foggy conditions claimed 22 more lives taking the countrywide death toll this winter to 75 today as authorities shut schools in Bihar and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh owing to unabated chill.
    
Fifteen more succumbed to the cold in Uttar Pradesh while seven died in road accidents in Bihar which occurred due to poor visibility spawned by dense fog. Jharkhand Disaster Management Minister Gopalkrishna Patar said in Ranchi that the cold and harsh weather had so far claimed 14 lives in the state.
   
Uttar Pradesh accounted for a maximum of 45 fatalities, Jharkhand 14, Punjab nine and Bihar seven, officials in respective state capitals said.
    
The national capital experienced a shallow fog and cold morning with the minimum temperature plummeting to less than five degress Celsius. The minimum was recorded at 4.8 deg C, more than three degrees below normal, the weather office said.
    
This is the second time in the last four days that the minimum in Delhi has dipped below five deg C. Authorities ordered closure of all private and government primary and middle schools till December 22 in Ghaziabad due to unabated cold wave.
    
In Bihar also, schools were shut till December 25 as cold and foggy conditions persisted for the fifth consecutive day. Capital Patna recorded a low of of 8.3 deg C against yesterday's 9.2.