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Researchers warn heatwaves induced by global warming will cause 52,000 deaths by 2080

Tropical regions will be the worst affected.

Researchers warn within 60 years global warming will cause an alarming number of heatwave deaths, the Daily Mail reported.

The "worst case scenario is a 471 per cent spike in heatwave-induced deaths – the equivalent of 52,000 people", the report stated.

Regions that will be most affected are subtropical and tropical regions.

A new study is the first to predict deaths related to heatwaves. So the team developed a model to estimate the number of deaths.

"We collected baseline time series data from 412 communities of the 20 countries during 1984 and 2015, and estimated the association between heatwaves and mortality in those communities," study co-author associate Professor Yuming Guo from Monash University in Australia, told the Daily Mail.

Adding," Then we combined the estimated association with projected future heatwave data under different climate change scenarios and population change scenarios, to project future heatwave-related death numbers."

In recent times, many countries have been affected by sweltering heatwaves that has led to thousands of deaths and just as many heatstroke-related illnesses.

"Under extreme climate change scenario and high variant population change scenario, the total predicted annual death number is 51,795," Professor Guo warned.

The findings were originally published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

( Source : deccan chronicle )
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