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Extreme heat has led to a rise in heat-related deaths in France. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said the authorities have developed emergency response plans for all hospitals in Paris and the surrounding areas, the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, an 18-month-old child died in Marseille after being left inside a vehicle. It was not the first such case in France. On Wednesday, a three-year-old child also died in a car, while on Monday a similar tragedy claimed the lives of two young children in the southern town of Carpentras.
Since the start of the heatwave, 55 people have drowned in France, with around two-thirds of the victims swimming in areas where lifeguards were not present.
Between Sunday and Thursday, 327 people died in Spain due to high temperatures. However, the heatwave has already begun to ease in the country.
Meanwhile, scientists monitoring Switzerland’s glaciers said that by Monday, all of the snow and ice accumulated during the winter is likely to have melted. Such conditions are usually recorded in August, but scientists warned that the current rate of glacier melt is comparable to that of 2022, when the fastest glacier melt on record was observed.