(KPL/Yonhap) A total of 16 people have died from heat-related illnesses in Republic of Korea so far this year as the country continues to endure severe heat waves, health authorities said Thursday.

A total of 2,900 patients had visited emergency rooms for heat-related conditions as of Wednesday since mid-May, when authorities launched the heat-related illness surveillance system. Of those patients, 16 have died, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

As the heat wave persists, daily cases of heat-related illnesses have exceeded 100 for nine consecutive days since July 22. Deaths have also been reported for four days in a row.

Compared with the same period last year, the number of patients has increased about 2.6 times, while the number of deaths more than doubled, the KDCA said.

Among the patients reported this year, heat exhaustion, commonly known as sunstroke, accounted for 60.7 percent, followed by heat stroke at 16.4 percent, heat cramps at 13.4 percent and heat syncope at 8.1 percent.

By age group, those aged 65 and older accounted for 31.7 percent of the total patients.

Most parts of the country have come under heat wave alerts.

The state weather agency said Seoul has seen the largest number of tropical nights for any July this year as of Wednesday, adding the heat waves gripping the country are expected to intensify in the coming days.

A tropical night occurs when nighttime temperatures stay above 25 C from 6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the following day.

KPL