The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Sunday that extreme heat may be the cause of hundreds of deaths across Europe. TASR informs about it based on the report of the DPA agency.
- Extreme heat in Europe may be the cause of hundreds of current deaths.
- Since June 21, there have been more than 1,300 deaths above the expected temperature average.
- Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, the situation is escalating dramatically.
- Heat waves occur almost annually instead of once a generation.
- Heat waves kill approximately 500,000 people each year, many of which are preventable.
“Since June 21, there have been more than 1,300 deaths above the expected average associated with high temperatures in Europe,” said the WHO director on platform X. “Europe is the fastest warming continent on Earth, warming twice as fast as the global average. Right now 150 million people are living in heat stress, hundreds have died, schools are closed and power grids are collapsing“, he stated.
“Due to climate change and global warming, the ‘once in a generation’ heat wave phenomenon is now occurring almost every year. We have been warned,” stated Ghebreyesus. In the past week, several countries in Europe set temperature records, including Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, where the temperature reached around 40 degrees Celsius.
The director of the WHO pointed out that temperature stress is often called the “silent killer” and that European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for such temperatures. Tedros warned that around 500,000 people die each year as a result of the heat, adding that many of these deaths could be prevented.
