Shanghai's extreme heat has claimed two lives in the past few days as the city heads for its hottest July in 140 years.

As of yesterday, the city had recorded 23 days with the mercury hitting 35 degrees Celsius and above this month.

The highest temperature in Shanghai reached 38 degrees Celsius on July 2, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

The maximum temperature was 39.1 degrees yesterday, marking the seventh consecutive day the mercury has risen above 38 degrees, a record since the city began recording temperatures in 1873.

The last time Shanghai had 23 days of high temperatures in July was in 1934.

The temperature is forecast to reach 39 degrees today and tomorrow, the last two days of July, the city's weather bureau said.

The heat wave is showing no signs of abating, and temperatures may exceed 40 degrees again in early August, the bureau said.

Strong, stable subtropical high pressure and the absence of typhoons contributed to the record weather, it added.

"It's rare to see so many consecutive high temperature days in July," said Kong Chunyan, a chief service officer at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. According to statistics since 2001, the number of hot days in August should be six fewer than this month, Kong said.

Two people died at Minhang District's medical center on Saturday from heat stroke, doctors said yesterday. They were a 63-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man.

They were among seven people rushed to the Minhang District Central Hospital from Friday to yesterday.

Four of them were taken to the hospital yesterday, including a 62-year-old man surnamed Luo. Luo fainted at a bus stop and another citizen rushed him to the hospital where doctors found his temperature was off the thermometer scale.