Japan adds ‘most severe’ category to its heatstroke index amid deadly summer

People sit under parasols on a bench in Tokyo, Japan, amid extreme heat that has seen authorities issue ‘danger’-level safety alerts.
Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP

Medical experts in Japan are to add a “most severe” category to the current heatstroke index, amid warnings that the extreme heat is straining medical services and causing damage to public health comparable to that in a “natural disaster”.

The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine said it would add a fourth category to the three-level classification later this year in an attempt to reduce deaths from heatstroke.