NEW YORK, Aug 7: A heat wave that scorched New York last week has killed 22 people and may claim additional lives, the office of the city’s chief medical examiner said on Monday.

Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office, said the deaths were recorded late last week and that the toll could rise since exposure to heat can have lasting effects.

“It usually takes two or three days,” Ellen Borakove said.

“As the heat wave continues, it weakens the system,” she said, adding that at greatest risk were “people in delicate condition.”

The first deaths were recorded on Thursday, the last day of record temperatures when highs broke the old mark of 38 degrees Celsius recorded in 1999, while the heat index, which takes moisture readings into account, reached 44 degrees Celsius.

The heat prompted city officials to declare a state of emergency for the first time. —AFP