PARIS (Reuters) – Three successive heatwaves and COVID-19 are more likely to have caused greater than 10,000 additional deaths in France during this summer, the health ministry said.
A complete of 10,420 excess deaths were registered between June 1 and Sept. 15 in France’s second hottest summer since 1900, data from the general public health agency showed.
Of those, 2,816 took place during three episodes of heatwave alert, from June 14 to 22, July 9 to 27 and July 29 to Aug.14.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur recorded nearly all of the surplus national deaths through the heatwave.
The elderly were the worst affected, with those aged 75 or more accounting for two,272 of the two,816 excess deaths through the heatwaves.
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The COVID pandemic can also be more likely to have played a job in heat-related deaths, said the agency, Sante Publique France, with 894 COVID-19 related deaths recorded in hospitals and medical establishments through the heatwave episodes.
“COVID-19 can have increased the vulnerability to heat of some people and exposure to high temperatures can have worsened the health of some COVID-19 patients,” it added.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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