The two episodes of heat wave that hit France in June and July resulted in 1,500 additional deaths, ten times less than the number of deaths related to the heat wave of 2003, said Sunday the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn. "We have 1,500 deaths recorded in more than the average of these months, so it is ten times less deaths than the heat wave of 2003," said the minister, in the issue Political issues broadcast on France Inter and franceinfo .
France beat in June its absolute temperature record with 46.0 ° C recorded in the Hérault on June 28th. "The heat wave of 2003 was 20 days, there we had 18 days of heat wave in two episodes but very intense, with a very important coverage of the territory during the second heat wave" and with "excessively high temperatures", recalled the minister. Despite these difficult conditions, "thanks to prevention and these messages, the population has been well integrated in reducing the mortality of 2003 by a factor of 10", said Agnès Buzyn, welcoming the mobilization of health professionals, communities, EHPAD staff.
People over 75, first impacted
"Of these 1,500 more deaths, about half are people over 75, but there are also adults, even the youngest, who have been impacted," she said, referring to "a dozen deaths in the world of work". After an episode of heat wave, the publication of the mortality report usually takes a month, the time needed to analyze the data and ensure that the additional deaths are due to heat.
In 2018, the heat wave of late July / early August had caused about 1,500 more deaths than a normal summer. The most deadly heatwave in France remains that of 2003. It had made 15,000 deaths between August 4 and 18, 2003, particularly in the Center region and Ile-de-France. Throughout the summer, the number of deaths caused by heat had reached 19,490 in France, according to a survey published in 2007 by Inserm