{"id":2101,"date":"2026-07-03T14:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=2101"},"modified":"2026-07-03T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T15:25:12","slug":"france-heatwave-death-toll-rises-above-2000-as-hospitals-report-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/france-heatwave-death-toll-rises-above-2000-as-hospitals-report-strain\/politics\/international\/","title":{"rendered":"France heatwave death toll rises above 2,000 as hospitals report strain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"590\" height=\"393\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/90_3.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2102\" style=\"width:752px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/90_3.jpg.webp 590w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/90_3.jpg-300x200.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">France\u2019s latest heatwave has killed 2,025 people, Health Minister St\u00e9phanie Rist said Friday, as authorities warned the toll could still rise amid a sharp increase in deaths among people over 45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rist told French broadcaster TF1 that deaths occurring at home rose 91% compared with the previous week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">France\u2019s National Public Health Agency said nationwide deaths increased nearly 30% between June 22 and June 28, with a 62% rise recorded in the Paris region. The agency also reported a similar increase in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agency said about 1,000 additional heat-related deaths had been recorded in just a few days since June 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hospitals across France reported rising admissions for heatstroke, dehydration and other heat-related conditions as the extreme temperatures strained emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/000-B82Q44P.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2103\" style=\"width:771px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/000-B82Q44P.jpg 720w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/000-B82Q44P-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At Paris-Saclay Hospital in the Paris region, staff said they were forced to source ice externally to cool patients, relying on help from local businesses. \u201cWe thought we were prepared; in reality we were not,\u201d hospital director C\u00e9dric Lussiez told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A similar shortage was reported at a university hospital in Limoges, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where demand for cooling exceeded the facility\u2019s ice-making capacity. Local businesses later donated more than a ton of ice to help respond to the surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to French newspaper Le Figaro, the government has ordered 30,000 air-conditioning units for medical facilities to improve preparedness for future heatwaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The heatwave also caused wider disruption, with about 50,000 households losing power and cultural and sporting events canceled across multiple cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Temperatures reached extreme levels in parts of the country, with pharmacy displays in Paris showing readings as high as 46.5 degrees Celsius (115.7\u00b0F), according to Reuters images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">France\u2019s national weather service, M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France, said another heatwave with temperatures above 35\u00b0C (95\u00b0F) is expected to affect parts of the country beginning this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images-12.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2106\" style=\"width:777px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images-12.jpg 586w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images-12-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The current crisis has drawn comparisons with France\u2019s 2003 heatwave, which killed about 15,000 people, mostly elderly residents in care homes and private residences. Officials say this year\u2019s event has been meteorologically more intense, though the final toll remains lower so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>France\u2019s latest heatwave has killed 2,025 people, Health Minister St\u00e9phanie Rist said Friday, as authorities warned the toll could still rise amid a sharp increase [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2107,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101\/revisions\/2107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}