Last week in Portugal, 523 more people died than expected for that period based on the average mortality values of previous years, the newspaper Público reported on Tuesday based on data from the General Directorate of Health.
The high figures of excess mortality were recorded in the week in which Portugal went through a heat wave with record temperatures in various parts of the country and with several fires throughout the territory.
Even so, Public points out, it is still not possible to trace in detail the relationship between the heat wave and excess mortality, so it is not known exactly how many deaths were caused by high temperatures.
The truth, for now, is that this week of intense heat has reached a new peak in mortality. In a single day, Thursday the 14th, 440 people died. It was the second day with the most deaths in Portugal this year (in February there had been a day with 445 deaths).
According to the analysis made to Público by the meteorologist Pedro M. Sousa, from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere, on July 14 some 180 more people died than the average of previous years. Stripping out the 15 recorded deaths from Covid-19, there are 165 excess mortality deaths that could, eventually, be mostly attributed to heat.
Looking at the period of the first half of July, most affected by the heat wave, it is possible to estimate that the high temperatures were responsible for about a thousand deaths, analyzes the same meteorologist.
Source: Observadora
