Christian George
More than 10,000 excess deaths were recorded across European countries during the record-breaking heatwave that swept through western parts of the continent in late June, according to official figures.
Data released by EuroMOMO, a mortality monitoring network supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization, showed that more than 9,000 of the deaths occurred among people aged 65 and older.
Extreme temperatures can prove fatal by triggering heat stroke or worsening existing heart and respiratory conditions, with elderly populations considered among those at greatest risk.
“To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high,” Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, which hosts EuroMOMO, told Reuters.
“It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat,” Vestergaard added.
Researchers have said the intense heatwave experienced in late June would have been “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change, which has increased the frequency and severity of extreme heat events.
The EuroMOMO figures, compiled from national mortality records across 27 European countries, covered deaths from all causes rather than only those directly attributed to heat. The period examined was June 22 to 28, when temperatures reached their peak in France, Spain, Britain and other parts of Europe.
Scientists said no other major contributing factors, including COVID-19 outbreaks, had been identified as explanations for the sharp increase that brought the weekly excess death figure to 10,650.
In comparison, the combined mortality rate across the same European countries during the previous eight weeks was, on average, about 500 deaths per week lower than expected levels. However, EuroMOMO warned that the figures could be adjusted in coming weeks as additional data becomes available.
The severe heatwave at the end of June caused widespread disruption, including power supply problems, school closures and record-breaking temperatures in France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
EuroMOMO does not release excess mortality figures for individual countries, but it reported that France and Belgium were the only European nations to record “very high excess” mortality during the final week of June.
Belgium recorded its highest excess mortality level during a heatwave since records began in 2000, according to the country’s public health institute Sciensano.
A separate scientific analysis published on Monday estimated that heat-related conditions caused about 2,700 deaths in England and Wales during the May and June heatwaves.
The study, conducted by researchers from Imperial College London, the UK Met Office and the London School of Hygiene, found that 42 percent of those deaths were linked to additional heat intensified by global warming.
