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France counts heat deaths
France’s health agency Santé publique France estimated 2,025 additional deaths recorded between June 22 and June 28 compared to the previous week, an increase of 29.1%, while warning the data remain incomplete.
The agency said the increase particularly affects people over the age of 65, who account for 85% of this excess mortality, and it reported that nearly one-third of these heat-related deaths occurred in the Paris region, which saw a 62.8% increase in additional deaths.
Public Health France said the figures are “underestimated” and that the actual mortality rate will be “higher,” as it described a particularly strong increase in deaths at home that almost doubled (up 91%) during that week.
The Telegraph India report added that the updated tally from Public Health France spans June 22 to June 28 and that the agency has counted 8,973 deaths so far for that week, cautioning the number is still only partial.
Hospitals, mortuaries, warnings
In Paris, funeral service directors said they struggled to find places to store bodies before burial or cremation, with some mortuaries saying they were full and having to turn bodies away.
At the Paris-Saclay Hospital, Dr. Nicolas Gonzales, head of the emergency department, told The Associated Press that patients suffering from heat exposure started arriving in a surge on June 20 and that they treated heat victims for heart attacks, dehydration, kidney malfunctions and other heat-related problems.
Public Health France warned that “Mortality will ... be higher than these initial figures suggest,” while the updated French tally was described as preliminary and incomplete.
DW reported that France recorded 2,025 excess deaths, an increase of 29.1% on usual figures, and it said Belgium and the Netherlands together recorded at least 3,700 excess deaths from the June heat wave.
Europe-wide strain and politics
The heatwave’s impact extended beyond France, with Belgium’s Health Ministry registering excess mortality of about 1,200 deaths between June 18 and June 29, including 530 deaths among people aged 85 or older, and with the Dutch government saying the heat wave led to about 480 excess deaths.
“Buenos Aires, June 28 (NA) -- The historic heat wave affecting a large part of Europe has already caused more than 1,000 deaths linked to extreme temperatures in just one week, with France as the country most affected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)”
DW said Belgium’s ministry called the level of excess mortality “unprecedented” and noted that Belgium recorded “seven tropical days of temperatures exceeding 30°C (86°F)” as well as “abnormally” warm nights.
The Guardian reported that Public Health France said it had counted 8,973 deaths so far for that week but cautioned the number was still only partial, and it quoted the agency’s expectation that “mortality will rise further.”
DW also said French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces a no-confidence vote in parliament, possibly on Monday, over his government’s handling of the extreme heat, which disrupted daily life and forced schools to close and trains to be canceled.
