WHO Chief Reports More Than 1,300 Heat Deaths in Europe

More than 1,300 people have died in Europe because of the abnormal heat, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

He noted that Europe remains the world’s fastest-warming continent: temperatures there are rising twice as fast as the global average.

According to the WHO chief, about 150 million people are currently exposed to extreme heat. High temperatures have already caused hundreds of deaths, school closures and serious strain on energy systems.

Ghebreyesus stressed that because of climate change and global warming, heat waves that once occurred “once in a generation” are now happening almost every year.

“Heat stress is often called a ‘silent killer’, and homes, workplaces and schools in Europe were not designed for such temperatures,” he said.