The latest report yesterday confirmed the deaths of eight people in Coahuila, although the wave ended a week ago and the thermometer column has generally dropped to 26 degrees but is still above 40 degrees Celsius in certain locations.
The Secretariat states that most of the deaths (104 in total) occurred in the last two weeks of the heat, which even exceeded 50 degrees in the most deserted areas of the north, while at the end of the first and the beginning of the second there were only eight people.
The hardest-hit state was Nuevo León at 64 and the place with the most drama as forensic services collapsed and morgues exceeded their capacity to hold bodies, causing grief to loved ones.
Tamaulipas reported 19 and Veracruz 15. Last year this month there was only one death, which this time serves as a measure of the intensity of the heat.
According to the Secretariat’s report, people over the age of 65 were hardest hit, accounting for 73.2 percent of all deaths. Last year, 40.4 percent were aged between 45 and 64.
Regarding health damage from high temperatures, the federal agency said 1.72 cases of heat stroke were confirmed, a 120 percent increase compared to previous weeks. Of these, 682 were heat stroke, 332 were dehydration and 58 were burns.
In the specific case yesterday in Coahuila, the State Government Health Secretariat said that in addition to the dead, there were 77 people with various symptoms, eight of them hospitalized in Piedras Negras, Acuña, San Buenaventura and Monclova.
Cases of heat stroke have occurred in Sabinas, Ocampo, Cuatro Ciénegas, Acuña, Sacramento, San Buenaventura, Piedras Negras, Allende, Múzquiz, Nava, Monclova, Candela, Castaños, Escobedo, Progreso, Torreón and Frontera.
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