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August is proving to be the cruelest month with extreme heat sending more than 10,000 people to the hospital for a second straight week, The Japan Times reports.

An estimated 12,751 people were rushed to hospitals with heat-related conditions across Japan over the week from Aug. 5. Of them, 23 died, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Wednesday.

A week earlier the total was 18,347, the second highest since the agency started compiling the data in 2008.

Of those patients, 400 exhibited severe symptoms that required at least three weeks of treatment as an inpatient, while 4,554 had symptoms requiring shorter hospital stays.

Those aged 65 and older accounted for 54.9 percent of the total.

The 23 deaths were recorded in 20 prefectures outside the capital, while Tokyo had the highest number of people sent to hospitals at 1,465, followed by Saitama at 977 and Osaka at 897.