Seoul, Aug 4 (IANS): Close to 400 people were treated at hospital emergency rooms for heat-related diseases on weekdays last week as the scorching heat kicked in after the end of the annual monsoon season, government data showed on Sunday.

According to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 507 hospitals across the nation reported 384 patients of heat-related illnesses between Monday and Friday last week, with 114 of them on Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Four people also died from suspected heat-related causes during the same period, according to the data.

One of them died in Seoul and another in the southeastern city of Busan on Tuesday, while the two others died in the southeastern Gyeongsang provinces on Friday.

An intense heat wave has been gripping the nation since last week following the end of the rainy monsoon season, with temperatures hovering over 35 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country and even rising to close to 40 degrees Celsius in the southeastern city of Yangsan on Saturday.