PARIS, Aug 19 (Reuters) – France recorded 1,243 excess deaths between July 3 and July 22 when the country was hit by exceptionally high temperatures, the country’s health ministry said on Wednesday.
• The count includes all deaths regardless of their cause and is an estimate based on death certificates issued during the period.
• People aged 75 and older represented about three-quarters of the excess mortality.
• July was the hottest month recorded to date in France and one of the driest, the country’s weather agency said earlier this month.
• Europe as a whole has experienced more extreme warming, linked to human-induced climate change, than any other continent this year, meteorologists have said.
• The national health agency had recorded last month 5,764 excess deaths during the period between June 17 and July 2.
• The tally is preliminary and final data will be available for the whole summer in October or November, the ministry said.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Barbara Lewis)
