France has recorded an additional 1,000 deaths linked to the recent heatwave that swept across Europe, the country’s public health agency said yesterday, warning that the actual death toll is likely to be higher.
Providing preliminary mortality figures, Santé Publique France said that most of the deaths involved elderly people and that the number is expected to rise as more information becomes available from nursing homes and elderly care facilities.
Europeans have endured extreme temperatures during the heatwave, which has been linked to multiple deaths, shattered temperature records, disrupted energy production, and damaged infrastructure.
Scientists said the heatwave, which began on June 20, is among the most severe ever recorded in Europe, where the climate is warming faster than the global average.
The heatwave is now moving eastward. However, while France’s national weather service reported that extreme temperatures had eased across much of the country, some areas in the northeast remained under high heat alerts.
Health Minister Stéphanie Rist told the newspaper La Tribune that the health effects of the extreme heat could continue for up to 10 days after temperatures return to normal.tHE TOLL DEATH IS EXPECTED TO RISE
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