More than two thousand people died in France due to the extreme heat wave that engulfed the country, announced the Minister of Health Stephanie Rist. "This morning, the ministry will publish the data on the number of deaths for the week of June 22-28, which amounts to approximately 2,025 new deaths," he said on TF1.
He said this information is based on only 60% of all death reports, so the final number could change. He also noted an increase in mortality among citizens over 45 years old. Heat waves have hit a large part of European countries. In France, the meteorological service has declared the highest weather alert level in 72 of the 96 departments.
Temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius and in some places even exceeded it. The situation is also particularly dire in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.
