Seoul, Aug 4 (IANS): South Korea reported 11 deaths linked to heat-related diseases so far this year, as scorching heat plagues the nation following the annual monsoon season, government data showed on Sunday.

According to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 11 people have been reported dead due to suspected heat-related causes from May 20, when the government began a monitoring system for heat-related illnesses, to Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Five of the deaths were reported on Friday and Sunday. One of them involved an 80-something woman who lost consciousness on Saturday while working at a farm field near an apartment in Geumho-dong in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province.

Another woman in her 60s in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, fainted while working in a field. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The agency also said 386 patients of heat-related illnesses were treated at 507 hospitals across the nation between Monday and Friday last week.

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 C in many parts of the country and even rising to close to 40 C in the southeastern city of Yangsan on Saturday.