Parisians will be barred from drinking alcohol in public from noon on Friday as record-breaking temperatures push the city's hospitals to breaking point. The ban, which runs until 07:00 on Saturday and repeats the same hours over the weekend, is the most striking measure yet in a heatwave that has left France, Spain and the UK sweltering for days.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has raised the health alert to its highest level, ordering extra hospital staffing and protections for the vulnerable. Paris police chief Patrice Faure told local media: “We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities.” The city’s ambulance service recorded four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a single 24-hour period, according to Health Minister Stéphanie Rist, who warned that “young people are also suffering from cardiac arrests”. She stressed that no confirmed death figures were yet available.
“Paris bans public drinking as heatwave pushes hospitals to saturation; Germany faces 40C.”
Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the mortality rate was rising and urged residents not to be complacent. “We must not believe we are invulnerable,” he told French TV, adding that he had seen “100 or so joggers on the street” the previous evening. “Frankly, that’s irresponsible.”
The heatwave has already shattered records. France saw its hottest day on Wednesday for the second day running, with Météo-France reporting an average minimum temperature of 22C that night. Nantes recorded 27.2C in the north-west. The UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, said the “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”.
Now the extreme heat is moving east. Forecasters in Germany warn temperatures could hit 40C across the country on Friday, while the Czech Republic has placed much of its territory under an extreme weather warning. The alcohol ban in Paris applies to public consumption and takeaway sales from 18:00 to 07:00 each night, though licensed bars and restaurants are exempt. As the continent braces for what Stiell warned “is just getting started”, officials are scrambling to prevent further strain on health services and protect those most at risk.