After Australia sweltered through its hottest, driest year in 2019, researchers have warned a warmer climate will bring more deaths through injury and accident.

A study has calculated what impact a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in the average temperature would have on the number of people killed by injury in the US.

It has found the number of people likely to die by drowning, transport deaths, assault and suicide would increase with hotter weather, and nearly all of these (84%) would occur in men aged 15-64.

Most data on health consequences from global climate change has related to the spread of infectious diseases and other chronic illnesses, say the authors, led by researchers from the UK’s London Imperial College.