![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
21-07-2023, 08:30 AM
UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO
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for many seniors, heat has become the new Covid-19.
The searing temperatures have settled over the continent like another indiscriminate plague, reinforcing the isolation of many older people and the threats to their health, and pushing governments and social services to take extraordinary steps to try to protect them.
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As temperatures rise, the threat to Europe’s elderly is now widespread, with southern European nations being joined by others as far north as Belgium in putting heat plans in place, many aimed at safeguarding older populations.
For Italy, the extreme heat has forged a pincer with the country’s most pressing demographic trend – an ageing population – to present an especially acute crisis. About 24 per cent of Italians are older than 65, making it the oldest country in Europe, and more than 4 million of them live alone.
Last year, Italy was exposed to extreme temperatures longer than most other European countries, enduring three major heat waves.
Almost 30 per cent of the 61,000 people estimated to have died last summer from extreme heat in Europe were Italians, with age playing a significant factor.
The number of Italians older than 80 is now about 4.5 million, almost double the number 20 years ago.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...w-covid-19
......
for many seniors, heat has become the new Covid-19.
The searing temperatures have settled over the continent like another indiscriminate plague, reinforcing the isolation of many older people and the threats to their health, and pushing governments and social services to take extraordinary steps to try to protect them.
......
As temperatures rise, the threat to Europe’s elderly is now widespread, with southern European nations being joined by others as far north as Belgium in putting heat plans in place, many aimed at safeguarding older populations.
For Italy, the extreme heat has forged a pincer with the country’s most pressing demographic trend – an ageing population – to present an especially acute crisis. About 24 per cent of Italians are older than 65, making it the oldest country in Europe, and more than 4 million of them live alone.
Last year, Italy was exposed to extreme temperatures longer than most other European countries, enduring three major heat waves.
Almost 30 per cent of the 61,000 people estimated to have died last summer from extreme heat in Europe were Italians, with age playing a significant factor.
The number of Italians older than 80 is now about 4.5 million, almost double the number 20 years ago.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...w-covid-19
![[Image: original.jpg]](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/soPzaobhn_l5N0SvDo0D_-69Ml0=/1200x800/media/img/photo/2020/04/the-toll/t01_1208459650/original.jpg)
