The extraordinary heatwave that Italy is suffering, its third of the summer, was approaching its peak on Tuesday, with the possibility that temperatures will reach record highlights in some cities.
Indeed, Rome has set up 28 heat help points dotted around the city with the aim of preventing people from having bad turns, with the temperature in the capital forecast to reach a new high of 42° Celsius.
Temperatures are forecast to climb to 47° Celsius in areas of southern Sardinia this week and 45 or 46° in Sicily.
On Tuesday 20 major Italian cities are on red alert due to the heat - Ancona, Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Cagliari, Campobasso, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Messina, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, Pescara, Rieti, Rome, Trieste, Venice, Verona and Viterbo.
On Wednesday Bari, Catania, Civitavecchia and Turin will join them, while Bolzano drops down to yellow alert.
That means that only four of the nation`s 27 biggest cities will not be on red alert on Wednesday.
A city is on red alert when the heat is so intense it poses a threat to the whole population, not just vulnerable groups such as the sick, the elderly, and small children.
The health ministry has sent a circular letter to Italy`s regional governments with a series of recommendations to manage the impact of the heat.
These recommendations include setting up a `heat code` at emergency rooms with special, priority procedures for people suffering heat-related health issues.
They also call for the creation of special USCAR units to provide care for people at home, especially for vulnerable groups like the elderly, and prevent ERs from being overwhelmed by people going to a casualty with problems that could be solved elsewhere.
The letter tells the regions to boost out-of-hours doctor services too.
A study coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and published in the Nature Medicine journal last week estimated that over 18,000 people died in Italy due to the intense heat the nation endured last summer.
Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is making extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, supercharged storms, and flooding more frequent and more intense.
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