WITH the monsoon season coming to an end, South Korea has seen a surge in the number of days with scorching heat, leading to a rapid increase in the number of cases of heat- related illnesses.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Friday, 507 medical institutions equipped with emergency rooms reported to the agency that they saw 124 patients with heat-related illnesses from Monday to Wednesday – 55 of them were from Wednesday alone.
The KDCA added that 16.3% of the total number of heat-related illnesses reported since it first started monitoring such cases in 2024 came from the past three days. Since May 20, the agency has seen up to 759 cases of heat- related illnesses.
The number of cases this week was also 3.5 times higher than in the last week. The agency reported 35 heat-related illness cases from July 15 to 17.
So far, 78.7% of the patients with heat-related illnesses were male, with 29.5% of these patients aged 65 and above. Of the patients with heat-related illnesses, 11.1% were in their 20s, and 13.2% in their 30s.
By illness, heat exhaustion made up the majority of cases, at 54.4%, followed by heat stroke, heat cramps and heat syncope.
According to the KDCA, this week’s spike in the number of heat-related illnesses was likely due to the rise in temperatures and humidity levels caused by intermittent rain showers nationwide.
Last Wednesday, South Korea’s average daytime temperatures reached 34°C, with some cities in Gyeonggi, North Chungcheong and South Jeolla provinces seeing temperatures reach 35°C.
Due to the high humidity levels, temperatures across most of South Korea rose as high as 35°C, prompting heatwave warnings to be issued nationwide.
In South Korea, heatwave warnings are activated when the highest apparent temperature is forecast to exceed 33°C for two consecutive days or more.
On Friday, the Korea Meteorological Administration raised the warning level from “caution” to “alert” in most parts of the country.
South Korea raises its heatwave warning level when daytime temperatures are forecast to exceed 35°C for two consecutive days or more. — The Korea Herald/ANN
