More than 10,000 deaths have been recorded in Europe in one week due to the heatwave.

At the end of June, a record-breaking heatwave that swept across Western Europe resulted in over 10,000 excess deaths across 27 European countries compared to the usual number. This was reported by Reuters, citing data from the EuroMOMO network, which operates with the support of the ECDC and the World Health Organization. reported.

 

According to the report, of the 10,650 excess deaths recorded between June 22 and 28, more than 9,000 were among citizens aged 65 and older. Experts attribute the high mortality rate primarily to the record-breaking hot weather.

 

Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark's Statens Serum Institut, stated that such a level of excess mortality at this time of year is unusual and difficult to explain by any factor other than the heatwave.

 

Scientists emphasize that the heatwave at the end of June would have been nearly impossible without global climate change caused by human activity. They believe that climate change is leading to more frequent and intense heatwaves.

 

According to EuroMOMO data, France and Belgium were the only European countries to record "very high excess mortality" during the last week of June. In Belgium, this indicator was recorded as the highest among all heatwave periods observed since 2000.

 

Additionally, in a separate study published by scientists from Imperial College London, the UK Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, it was estimated that 2,700 people died from heat-related causes in England and Wales alone during the heatwaves in May and June.

 

According to the study's authors, 42 percent of these deaths were linked to the impact of heatwaves intensified by global warming.