[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC) announced that the number of people suffering from heat illness this year increased by 61% (397) compared to the same period of last year.

A total of 556 people have been diagnosed with heat illness from July 15 to 21, and seven out of 10 deaths from heat illness this year have occurred during the past week.

The outbreak of heat illness took place in outdoor workplace (292), and farmland (162).

According to the time of occurrence, 541 cases, half of the total number of the patients, occurred between 12 and 17, and 101 cases occurred between 17 and 18.

By region, Gyeongsangnam-do (165), Gyeonggi-do (125) and Gyeongsangbuk-do (116) were in order. Gyeongsangnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Ulsan showed the biggest increases compared to the previous year.

The KCDC called on the public to continuously pay attention to heat illness occurrence as the intense heat seems to continue for a while.

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