Japan's weather agency has declared the heatwave sweeping the country a natural disaster, with 80+ deaths recorded since 19 July and the temperature reaching 41.1C. By 26 July over 22,000 were hospitalised with heatstroke, and the heatwave shows no sign of abating. People were urged to stay in air-conditioned spaces, drink water, and rest to prevent heat exhaustion. The fire department dispatched ambulances 3,125 times within Tokyo in just one day. Meanwhile, temperatures in Korea climbed to 40. Much of Europe is baking under a high-pressure ridge of tropical heat, climbing as far as the Arctic and blocking cooling rainfalls. Temperatures above 32 extended to northern Scandinavia, setting records in Sweden, Finland and Norway for stations above the Arctic Circle. There are unprecedented wildfires in Sweden. Algeria reached 51.3, the highest temperature ever recorded on the African continent. A brutal heatwave also struck Canada, with seventy heat-related deaths, and in the USA Dallas experienced highs of 43.