July heatwave sees 1,243 deaths in France, bringing summer toll to 7,300

An undertaker with the body of a 93-year-old man who died in hospital in a mortuary in Orleans, 15 July. © Tom Nicholson/Reuters

More than 1,200 excess deaths were recorded in France during the country's July heatwave, bringing the provisional death toll from extreme temperatures this year to 7,300.

France recorded 1,243 excess deaths between 3 and 22 July during the second heatwave of the summer, bringing the provisional number to 7,300, according to figures published on Wednesday by the country’s national public health agency, Santé Publique France.