A woman uses an umbrella to shelter from the sun in Tokyo.
Tokyo recorded on July 22 the most daily heat-related hospitalizations since 2010, emergency services said, as Japan sweltered in a severe heat wave, with one person dead and four in a critical condition.
The Tokyo Fire Department said 453 people were taken to hospital on July 22, the highest daily count since records began in 2010.
The number of times emergency services were deployed that day also hit a 63-year high.
“We are urging people to stay hydrated and use air conditioners,” a fire brigade spokesman told AFP on July 23.
“It seems like the number [of patients] rose as the temperature rose. It seems like yesterday [July 22] and the day before yesterday, we really saw notable increases,” the spokesman said.
He said that one person had died, with four others in a critical condition and 18 in a serious state in Tokyo prefecture, home to around 14 million people.
In the entire central region of Aichi, which includes Nagoya, 116 people were taken to hospital on July 22 for heat-related conditions, officials said.
The same day four locations saw temperatures above 40 degrees Centigrade, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
Japan introduced this year a new term to describe heat above 40 degrees called “kokushobi,” which translates to “cruelly hot day.”
