Heat wave kills 10,000 in Europe

The vast majority of those who died, more than 9,000, were aged 65 and older, Reuters reports.

Lasse Westergaard, chief medical officer at the National Serum Institute of Denmark, where the EuroMOMO conference is taking place, said this number of deaths is unusual for this time of year.

"This number of deaths at this time of year is unusual. It's a truly high figure. It's difficult to explain such a high mortality rate other than extreme heat," he said.

Scientists say this heat wave would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. Due to global warming, such heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense.

The data, compiled from national mortality statistics from 27 European countries, covers deaths from all causes, not just heat-related ones. They cover the week of June 22–28—the period when the heatwave peaked in France, Spain, the UK, and other countries.

The scientists noted that no other known significant factors, such as COVID-19 outbreaks, could explain the sharp rise in excess deaths to 10,650 during that week.

EuroMOMO does not publish data on high mortality by country, but according to the network's statistics, France and Belgium were the only two countries in Europe to record "very high" excess mortality in the last week of June.

According to data from the Belgian health institute Sciensano, excess mortality in Belgium was the highest on record since 2000, during any heatwave.

Photo: zn.ua.