French authorities have imposed a temporary ban on public alcohol consumption and takeaway sales in Paris to ease pressure on hospitals during an extreme heatwave that is sweeping across Europe.
Parisians are prohibited from drinking alcohol in public from noon Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, and again during the same hours from Saturday to Sunday. Takeaway alcohol sales are banned from 6 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday and the same period the following night. Licensed bars and restaurants are exempt.
Paris police chief Patrice Faure told local media: 'We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities.' Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the health alert level had been raised to its highest to boost hospital staffing and protect the vulnerable.
UN climate change chief Simon Stiell said 'Europe's savage heatwave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it' and called for 'a faster shift to renewables, protecting forests and boosting climate resilience.'
France recorded its hottest day on Wednesday for the second consecutive day. Météo-France said the average minimum temperature reached 22°C on Wednesday night, with Nantes in the northwest seeing 27.2°C.
Health Minister Stéphanie Rist warned that young people are also at risk, noting 'young people are also suffering from cardiac arrests.' The Paris ambulance service reported four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the mortality rate was rising in the capital, calling jogging in the heat 'irresponsible.' A three-year-old child was found dead in a car in the Paris region, following the deaths of two young children in a car in Carpentras.
Professor Louis Soulas, head of the emergency department in Rennes, linked five or six deaths to the extreme heat, saying 'it's not just the very elderly; it's people aged 60 and up.' Intensive care units in the region are 'saturated.'
Teachers' unions are calling for a strike over 'unacceptable working conditions' in the heat. Three nuclear plants have gone offline due to high temperatures.
Western regions are bracing for severe thunderstorms with gusts up to 110 km/h. The first day of the Garorock festival has been canceled.
Climate change is driving up temperatures, with Europe warming twice as fast as the global average, according to Copernicus. Spain recorded 45.1°C in Andújar on Monday, with 213 heat-related deaths counted between Sunday and Wednesday.
In Germany, overnight temperatures in Bad Bergzabern matched a national record of 26.2°C. Hamburg's half marathon was canceled, and Deutsche Bahn is offering free ticket cancellations.
The Czech Republic expects temperatures up to 40°C, with extreme weather warnings in place. Vienna may also hit 40°C over the weekend. A code red is in effect in eight of 12 Dutch provinces.
The UK Met Office extended its red extreme heat warning until Friday evening for parts of London and southeastern England.
In Italy, Florence's Uffizi museum halted ticket sales until June 28 as air conditioning could not cope. Northern regions expect 40°C on Monday, with nighttime temperatures not falling below 29°C.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk