Germany's main public health institute announced on Thursday that the country had experienced at least 5,120 heat-related deaths so far this year, most of them during the June heat wave that paralyzed Europe for more than a week.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said that around 4,270 of those deaths were people aged 75 and older.
In late June, temperatures in parts of the country reached over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Most buildings in Germany are not built with such high temperatures in mind, including many hospitals and care homes that still do not have air conditioning.Germany's railway and tram tracks began to melt during the June heat waveImage: Heiko Rebsch/dpa/picture alliance
National authorities in France also reported thousands of excess deaths due to the June heat wave, as well as hundreds in Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
June 2026 was EU's hottest on record
