France heatwave deaths jump by nearly a third in hottest week on record

Paris,UPDATED: Jul 3, 2026 17:56 IST

Deaths in France rose by nearly a third during the hottest week of the country’s record heat wave last month, the national public health authority said on Friday. Public Health France said at least 2,000 more people died in the week of June 22 to June 28 than in the previous week, when temperatures were already rising and emergency wards were seeing heat-related cases.

The updated and still incomplete figures were about double the agency’s first preliminary estimate of at least 1,000 additional deaths issued last Sunday, which had covered only three of the hottest days. In Paris, funeral service directors said they had struggled to find places to store bodies before burial or cremation, with some mortuaries full and turning bodies away.

Public Health France said it has counted 8,973 deaths so far for June 22 to June 28, though it cautioned that the number remains partial. That compares with 6,948 deaths recorded in the previous week, June 15 to June 21, when the heat wave began. The difference of 2,025 is being treated as additional deaths from one week to the next, from all causes and across all age groups, it said.

France saw its hottest-ever days during that week, with record daytime and night-time temperatures in many cities and towns. The heat wave also broke temperature records in several other parts of Europe.

At Paris-Saclay Hospital, patients affected by heat started arriving in large numbers on June 20, Dr Nicolas Gonzales, head of the emergency department, told The Associated Press. He said doctors treated people for heart attacks, dehydration, kidney malfunctions and other heat-related problems, including children and older people living alone.

The health agency said deaths in private homes saw a particularly sharp week-on-week rise of 91 per cent. Deaths in care homes for older people increased by 37 per cent, while deaths in hospitals rose by nearly 20 per cent. It said the Paris region appeared to be the worst hit, with a nearly 63 per cent increase in deaths from one week to the next.

Public Health France said its count understates the true toll because it is based on incomplete data. “The mortality will as a consequence be higher than these first figures,” it said. The latest figures show a sharp rise in deaths across France during the peak week of the heat wave, even as the full impact is still being assessed.

With PTI Inputs

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