PARIS, France, June 30, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - French health officials said on 
Tuesday that there were at least 300 more deaths than expected during a five-
day heatwave in May, the country's first of the year.

"We recorded 300 excess deaths, corresponding to an increase of nearly 14 
percent," said Caroline Semaille, director general of Public Health France, 
adding that the deaths were due to all causes combined and were not 
necessarily linked to elevated temperatures.

The May heat episode, "characterised by its early timing and intensity 
compared with seasonal norms, exposed a population not yet accustomed at that 
time of year to high temperatures, during a period when school and work 
activities are still in full swing," the public health agency said.

Apart from the May heatwave, France experienced a record-breaking heatwave of 
11 days earlier this month that scientists link to climate change.

The latest episode of extreme temperatures disrupted life in France, where 
few homes are equipped with air-conditioning units, and most schools are not 
designed to cope with extreme heat.

Citing preliminary figures, health officials on Sunday said they registered 
around 1,000 more deaths than during the same period in previous months since 
Wednesday last week, when France was at its hottest since records began.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Monday that more people had died in 
their homes during the latest heatwave than in previous episodes.

Heatwaves typically cause between 1,000 and 7,000 deaths per year, and "this 
summer we may be closer to 7,000 than to 1,000", epidemiologist Basile Chaix 
of French research institute INSERM told AFP.