2.3 Times Higher Than the Same Period Last Year
With record-breaking heatwaves and tropical nights continuing day after day, the number of people visiting emergency rooms due to heat-related illnesses this summer has surpassed 3,000.
On the 8th of last month, a farmer was wiping sweat while pulling weeds in a field in Dasan-myeon, Goryeong-gun, Gyeongbuk Province. Photo by Yonhap News
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on August 2, a provisional total of 87 patients with heat-related illnesses visited 516 emergency rooms nationwide in a single day the previous day.
Since the heat-related illness emergency room surveillance system began operating on May 15 this year, the cumulative number of patients has reached 3,049. This figure is 2.3 times higher than the same period last year (May 20 to August 1).
Since the surveillance system for heat-related illnesses was first implemented in 2011, the annual number of patients has exceeded 3,000 only twice: in 2018, which recorded the worst heatwave (4,526 patients), and in 2024 (3,704 patients).
The estimated number of deaths due to heat-related illnesses is 18, which is more than twice as many as last year (8 deaths).
Among the cumulative 3,049 patients, 31.8% were aged 65 or older. By type of illness, heat exhaustion accounted for the largest proportion at 61.0%, followed by heat stroke (16.4%), heat cramps (13.0%), and heat syncope (8.3%). The most common locations of occurrence were workplaces (31.8%), rice fields and farmlands (11.7%), indoor workplaces (7.4%), and homes (6.1%).
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