Spanish authorities were more concerned about the duration of the heatwave than the high temperatures reached. None of the country's 17 regions had any figures on heat-related deaths other than sunstroke, which killed some 30 people since the end of July -- 20 less than in the last severe heatwave of

Spanish undertakers said that deaths were up 25 to 100 percent, adding that the increase was not necessarily only due to the weather.

While the Italian health ministry said that no figures on heat-related deaths would be available before September, La Repubblica newspaper said that Italy had a "hidden epidemic" approaching the situation in France.

Health authorities in Portugal, where 18 people died in forest fires, said it was difficult to say how many others died in the heat because Portuguese death certificates "traditionally don't mention heat as a cause of death", according to public health official Francisco George.

"The elderly ... often end up dying of cardiac arrest, and that's what appears on the death certificate," he said.

Authorities in Germany said that statistics would not be available for another two months, while the president of the German undertakers federation, Wolfgang Zocher, said business was just about as usual.

"To talk about a wave of deaths because of the heat, as is apparently the case in France, seems to me grossly exaggerated," he said.

Britain officially had no deaths blamed on the heat, with the authorities saying that appropriate warnings had been given.

Although Belgium was spared the heat felt further south, Brussels hospitals reported a 10-percent increase in casualty admissions.

But accident and emergency doctor Pierre Mols said that the services were not overloaded, putting this down to the mesh of hospitals in the Belgian capital: 14 emergency services for one million people.

The Netherlands said that there were no additional deaths despite the additional heat. Health ministry spokesman Bas Kuik said that about 30 elderly people died from the summer heat in 2003, as every year.

Austrian authorities also said no extra deaths were reported, adding that statistics would not say if deaths were caused by the heat anyway.

Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia also said that heat is not generally recorded as a cause of death.

The inhabitants of Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, and Albania felt that the heatwave was "normal". No rise in the death rate was reported. Serbia was more concerned about the effects of the drought on agriculture.

Ambulance services in the Croatian capital Zagreb reported an increase in call-outs, but the same was not true of hearses.

In Bosnia, however, Sarajevo ambulance chief Alija Mulaomerovic reported "a notable increase in the number of deaths caused by the heat", without giving any figures.

TERRA.WIRE