Record hottest day brought spike in deaths

THE hottest day of the year prompted a dramatic increase in deaths, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said, in the first evidence showing the lethal impact of higher temperatures.

Britain experienced its hottest day since records began on July 25, when temperatures soared to 101.6F (38.7C) in Cambridge.

Figures from the ONS show that there were 1,473 deaths registered in England and Wales that day, rising from a daily average of 1,100 to 1,200 around that time.

However, averages for the summer overall have remained roughly consistent since 2013, leading some experts to suggest heatwaves do not raise the death toll but bring forward fatalities among those with pre-existing conditions who would have died anyway.

The ONS said: “The comparatively high number of deaths occur mainly on days that are defined as heatwaves by Public Health England in their deaths relating to heatwaves report.”

These spikes tended to be followed by periods of lower-than-average deaths, the ONS said.

“This means that, at a daily level, extreme heat seems to have an impact on the number of deaths, but across the summer period as a whole, the number of deaths is similar to previous years,” it added. “This could be because the most vulnerable people, for example, those with pre-existing respiratory or cerebrovascular diseases are more susceptible to death during heatwaves.”

England and Wales have seen some of the hottest summers in recent years with mean temperatures now between 60F and 62F (16C and 17C) compared with an average summer temperature of just 57.7F (14.3C) in 1919.

Recent Met Office figures also showed the hottest 10 years in Britain since records began in 1884 were all since 2002. And none of the 10 coldest years have occurred since 1963.

The London School of Economics has suggested that heatwaves are now so deadly they should be given names, like storms, to encourage the public to take them more seriously.