More than 10,000 excess deaths were recorded across 27 European countries during a late-June heatwave, with older people accounting for most of the toll, official data showed.
More than 9,000 of the deaths were among people aged 65 and over, according to EuroMOMO, a mortality-monitoring network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Extreme heat can kill by causing heat stroke, or aggravating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most vulnerable.
The figures cover all-cause excess mortality for the week of 22-28 June, when extreme heat peaked in France, Spain, Britain and other countries. The network reported 10,650 excess deaths across 27 countries for that week.
Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark's Statens Serum Institut, which hosts EuroMOMO, told Reuters the scale of excess mortality was unusual for that time of year and difficult to explain by anything other than the extreme heat.
"To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high," Vestergaard said.
"It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat," he added.
Scientists say human-caused climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense. A separate study published on Monday estimated that 2,700 people died from heat-related causes in England and Wales during the May and June heatwaves, with 42% of those deaths attributed to the extra heat linked to global warming.
The late-June heatwave disrupted power supplies, closed schools and broke temperature records in France, Spain and the UK.
EuroMOMO said France and Belgium were the only European countries to log “very high excess” mortality in the final week of June, while Belgium's public health institute Sciensano said its excess mortality was the highest recorded during any heatwave since 2000.
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