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More than 10,000 people died across Europe during the record-breaking heatwave that swept western parts of the continent in late June, according to official mortality data cited by Reuters.
The figures were published by EuroMOMO, a mortality monitoring network supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the data, more than 9,000 of the deaths were among people aged 65 and older.
"This level of excess mortality at this time of year is unusual. It is really very high. It is difficult to explain such a large increase by anything other than extreme heat," said Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark's Statens Serum Institute, where the EuroMOMO conference is being held.
Scientists said the late-June heatwave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-induced climate change, which has made heatwaves more frequent and more intense.
Reuters noted that the data from 27 EU countries reflect all-cause excess mortality, not only deaths directly attributed to heat. However, researchers said there were no other major factors, such as COVID-19, that could explain the sharp increase to 10,650 excess deaths between June 22 and 28, when temperatures peaked in France, Spain, the UK, and several other countries.
EuroMOMO does not publish country-specific mortality figures, but it said France and Belgium were the only countries to record "very high" excess mortality during the final week of June.
Belgium's public health institute Sciensano reported that the country's excess mortality during the heatwave was the highest ever recorded for such an event since records began in 2000.
A separate scientific study also found that 2,700 people died from heat-related causes in England and Wales during the heatwaves in May and June.
The extreme temperatures also caused power outages, school closures, and record-breaking heat across France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Reuters reported.
