The heat waves caused an excess of mortality by 21% in the first two weeks of July, for a total of 733 deaths in the 33 Italian cities monitored.
This is what emerges from
the bulletin of the surveillance system on heat waves published by the Ministry of Health
and referred to the period 16 May-15 July 2022. In the month of June in the 33 cities, a mortality of 9% higher than expected was recorded.
From 1-15 July the cities where the greatest increase was recorded were Latina (+ 72%), Bari (+ 56%), Viterbo (+ 52%), Cagliari (+ 51%), Catanzaro (+ 48%).
The bulletin reports how, starting from May 2022, temperatures above the seasonal average of + 3.2 ° C were recorded throughout the country, with higher values especially in the cities of Central Italy.
In June, temperatures were above the reference climatic value by an average of + 3 ° C.
Between the end of June and the first week of July, maximum apparent temperature peaks were recorded between 37-40 degrees.
The bulletin highlights the need for further investigations, which will be conducted at the end of the summer, to more accurately estimate the excess mortality attributable to temperature "taking into account, in the model, also the effect of the Covid-19 epidemic".
