More than 10,000 deaths were recorded across Europe due to the record-breaking heatwave that hit the continent in late June, according to a report by EuroMOMO.
According to EuroMOMO, which is backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organisation, no fewer than 9,000 victims were aged 65 and above.
The statistics for the study were based on death rates across 27 European countries between June 22 and 28, when the heatwave was particularly severe in France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, among others.
Reuters reported that the excess deaths were from all causes, not limited to heat-related ones, during the period. Extreme heat can cause deaths through heat stroke or aggravate cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most vulnerable.
Scientists expressed concern over the estimated 10,650 excess deaths recorded over a six-day period, noting that there was no COVID-19 outbreak during that time that could account for such a high fatality rate.
“To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high. It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat,” Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, said.
Prior to the heatwave, the study found that the mortality rate across the 27 countries combined over the previous eight weeks was, on average, around 500 deaths per week below typical levels.
EuroMOMO added that France and Belgium were the two countries on the list with “very high excess” mortality in the last week of June.
