With France stunned by reports that the heat may have killed up to 5,000 people, the French government on Tuesday called for an urgent review at the health ministry as it attempted to deflect criticism of its handling of the extreme weather.

The announcement followed the resignation Monday of top French health official Lucien Abenhaim over the estimated death toll linked to the hot weather, which roasted the country in the first two weeks of August.

In Spain, the health ministry said it had called on the regions to urgently provide detailed statistics on deaths during the hot spell, amid reports that well over 1,000 people had probably died as a consequence of the heat.

But a ministry spokesman insisted health services had functioned "perfectly" during the crisis, which has all but come to an end since the weekend with temperatures dropping.

La Vanguardia newspaper said that the deaths of "several hundred, probably well over 1,000, can be linked directly to the heatwave."

In Portugal, where temperatures pushed high above 40 degrees Celsiusdegrees Fahrenheit) earlier this month, reports said around 1,000 people may have died during the period, based on figures from a similar heatwave in 1991.

The health ministry was expected to give estimates regarding heat-related deaths at the end of the week.

The political fallout from the official handling of the heatwave also extended to Italy, where the Roman Catholic charity Caritas said elderly people being left alone was a major factor in many deaths during the heatwave.

It said that the majority of the estimated more than 1,000 deaths of elderly people occurred in the industrialised north, mainly in the big cities of Milan and Turin where many people were found dead alone in their apartments.

This did not happen in the poorer south, because the elderly received better care from their extended families, Caritas said.

The 1,000-plus figure came from assessments by local authorities in major cities, although Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia has said that reliable data would not be available until next month.

In France, elderly people were the main victims. Many had languished at home alone while French families left for traditional month-long summer vacations, and their frail constitutions suffered badly in the heat.

Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei admitted Monday that it was "plausible" that the national toll was 5,000, but said precise figures would be known in the coming weeks.

He deflected accusations from medical groups that his ministry failed to adequately warn the public or react fast enough to the crisis by blaming the office of the surgeon general, Abenhaim, for not having alerted him sooner.

Abenhaim told Le Parisien newspaper that the criticism was "totally unjustified" and described himself as a scapegoat.

An independent inquiry into the state's handling of the affair -- something demanded from the left-wing opposition -- would show what happened, he said.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has been struggling to dodge accusations over the reported deaths, initially blaming low staffing in hospitals resulting from a 35-hour working week introduced by the previous Socialist government.

Madrid has been keen to avoid the criticism that has rained down on the French government and the health ministry has said it is compiling its own count of heat-related deaths.

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TERRA.WIRE