• Tweeter

  • republish

Locally, initiatives have multiplied to help the most vulnerable populations. REUTERS / Regis Duvignau

After a hot episode of several days, no French department is red or orange vigilance. The leaden sun has given way to storms. By Friday night, the authorities had decided to put an end to prevention messages and to suspend the Canicule Info Service platform. Now the time is in the balance sheet, and if we do not have figures yet, some trends are already emerging.

For the Ministry of Health, the balance should be " moderate ", but it should be noted that this heat wave has caused an increase in cases of hyperthermia. Hyperthermia is when the body's local or general temperature rises above normal, because of the build-up of external heat, and it is potentially lethal.

Even though we do not have complete numbers yet, we already know that Thursday, at the peak of the episode , activity due to heat-related illnesses represented only 1.6% of emergency room visits and a little more than 3% of SOS Doctors consultations.

So, even if this heat wave is over, complications can still appear especially in the elderly and fragile . For example, chronic diseases can get worse if the body has exhausted all its abilities by fighting heat.

That's why the medical staff will stay mobilized for a few more days. And it is also for this reason that we will have a numerical assessment in a few weeks. As a reminder, in 2018, 1480 people had lost their lives because of the heat wave.

► To read also: France: thousands of hectares burned during the peak of heat wave