Europe recorded 10,000 excess deaths during late-June heatwave, data show

BRUSSELS – More than 10,000 excess deaths were recorded across Europe during the record-breaking heatwave that swept across western parts of the continent in late June, according to official data released on Monday.

Figures published by EuroMOMO, a mortality monitoring network supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization, showed 10,650 excess deaths during the week of June 22 to 28. More than 9,000 of those deaths were among people aged 65 and older.

Health experts said extreme heat can be deadly by causing heat stroke or worsening existing cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, with older adults among the most vulnerable.

"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.

Scientists have said the late-June heatwave would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, which is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense.

The data, compiled from national mortality statistics in 27 European countries, measured excess deaths from all causes—not only heat-related fatalities—during the week when the heatwave reached its peak in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and several other countries.

Researchers said there were no other major factors, such as COVID-19 outbreaks, that could explain the sharp rise in deaths during that period.

The same group of countries had recorded an average of about 500 fewer deaths per week than expected over the previous eight weeks. EuroMOMO noted that the latest figures could be revised as additional national data become available.

The late-June heatwave disrupted power supplies, forced school closures, and shattered temperature records in France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

While EuroMOMO does not publish country-specific excess mortality figures, it reported that France and Belgium were the only countries to register "very high excess" mortality during the final week of June.

Belgium recorded its highest excess mortality during any heatwave since records began in 2000, according to the country's public health institute, Sciensano.

A separate scientific study published on Monday estimated that about 2,700 people died from heat-related causes in England and Wales during the heatwaves in May and June.

The study, conducted by Imperial College London, the UK Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found that 42% of those deaths were linked to the additional heat caused by global warming. -Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Andrew Heavens/Reuters