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Reuters

European countries reported more than 10,000 excess deaths during ⁠the record-breaking heatwave that engulfed ⁠the west of the continent in ⁠late June, official data showed.
The vast majority – more than 9,000 – were among people aged 65 and above, according to data published by EuroMOMO, a network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization.
Extreme heat can kill by ‌causing heatstroke, or aggravating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most vulnerable.
“To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high,” said Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, which hosts EuroMOMO.
“It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat,” Vestergaard added.
Scientists have said the late-June heatwave ⁠would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, which is making heatwaves more frequent and intense.

The data, ‌pooled from national mortality statistics in 27 European countries, included excess deaths from all causes, not just heat-related ones, during the week of June 22 to 28, ‌when the heatwave peaked in France, Spain, Britain and other countries.
But scientists said there were no ⁠other known major factors, such ⁠as Covid-19 outbreaks, that would have contributed to the spike to 10,650 excess deaths in that week.
The same European countries’ combined ‌mortality over the previous eight weeks was, on average, around 500 deaths per week below typical levels. The EuroMOMO data could be revised ‌in future weeks ‌as more data comes in.
The extreme heatwave at the end of June disrupted power supplies, shut ‌schools, and smashed temperature records in France, Spain and the UK.
EuroMOMO does not publish excess deaths per ⁠individual country, but it noted that France and Belgium were the only two countries in Europe to log “very high ⁠excess” mortality in the last week of June.
Belgium’s excess mortality was the highest during any heatwave in records going back to 2000, according to the country’s public health institute Sciensano.
A separate ‌scientific study, published on Monday, ‌estimated 2,700 people died from heat-related causes in England and Wales alone, during the May and June heatwaves.
Of those deaths, 42 per cent were caused by the extra heat that global warming contributed to the heatwaves, according to the findings by Imperial College London, the UK Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC), the body responsible for advising the government on climate change, warned last year that the UK was “not ready” to deal with the consequences of climate change.
In a report published in May, it estimated that 92 per cent of British homes could be too hot by 2050, and recommended that the government set maximum temperature limits in the workplace, as well as investing in air conditioning for public buildings such as hospitals and schools.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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The extreme heatwave at the end of June disrupted power supplies, shut ‌schools, and smashed temperature records in France, Spain and the UK. Photo: AFP

An electric fan in a corridor at the Victor Jousselin hospital in Dreux, France. Photo: Reuters

Smoke rises as a wildfire burns in Darwen, Britain, on Sunday. Photo: Andrew Robinson via Reuters

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A tourist drinks water in Barcelona, Spain, on a hot day. File photo: AP

People in Madrid, Spain, walk past a shop selling fans during a heatwave on Thursday. Photo: AFP

The sun rises over the Tagus river in Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday. Temperatures are forecast to rise and stay above average for over a week. Photo: AP

A sea turtle swims among dead corals of a reef in the Maldives in 2023. The world’s oceans have just experienced their hottest June on record. Photo: AFP

People walk past shops during a heatwave in York, England, on June 24. The UK’s meteorological office issued an extremely rare red heat warning – only issued once before – for June 24 and 25. Photo: AFP

A Palestinian woman washes a child at a displacement camp in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, during a heatwave. Photo: AFP

France sees 1,000 excess deaths during record-breaking heatwave

A woman walks near water fountains in Beziers, southern France on Monday. The latest bout of exceptionally high temperatures to hit Europe has seen outdoor events cancelled, transport disrupted, schools shut and office workers told to work from home. Photo: AFP

A fan is set up as an elderly resident sits in a retirement home in Les Sorinieres near Nantes, France on Monday. Photo: Reuters

European hospitals overwhelmed by heatwave, more misery to come

An elderly woman walks down a street in Bordeaux, southwestern France, shortly before the latest heatwave. Hospitals in many parts of Europe are being inundated by heat-related admissions amid soaring temperatures. Photo: AFP

A woman in Cologne walks her dog past hoses spraying water to provide relief from the heatwave on Thursday, part of Germany’s climate adaptation measures. Photo: AFP

Staff at the Bioparco Zoo in Rome have been distributing frozen food to animals to help them cope with high temperatures. Photo: EPA

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic wipes sweat from his face as he practices with Italy’s Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon, London, on Thursday. Photo: AFP

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Official mortality tracking reveals a spike in fatalities in older people as extreme heat engulfed continent


Official mortality tracking reveals a spike in fatalities in older people as extreme heat engulfed continent.


Europe recorded 10,000 excess deaths in late-June heatwave

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Official mortality tracking reveals a spike in fatalities in older people as extreme heat engulfed continent

Official mortality tracking reveals a spike in fatalities in older people as extreme heat engulfed continent