Paris has banned public alcohol consumption and takeaway sales as a record-breaking heatwave pushes the capital’s hospitals to “saturation point”, with temperatures hitting more than 40C in the city.
The restrictions, announced by French authorities, will be in place from noon on Friday until 07:00 on Saturday, and again during the same hours from Saturday to Sunday. Takeaway alcohol sales will be banned from 18:00 on Friday until 07:00 on Saturday, and repeat the same hours the next day. Licensed bars and restaurants are exempt.
“Paris has banned public alcohol consumption as a record-breaking heatwave pushes hospitals to saturation point.”
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu raised the health alert to its highest level, boosting hospital staffing and protecting the vulnerable. Paris police chief Patrice Faure told local media: “We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities.”
The measures come after France recorded its hottest day on Wednesday for the second day in a row. Météo-France said the average minimum temperature reached 22C on Wednesday night, with Nantes seeing 27.2C in the north-west.
Health Minister Stéphanie Rist warned that young people were also at risk, saying the ambulance service in Paris had seen four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period. “Young people are also suffering from cardiac arrests,” Rist said, while stressing there were no confirmed figures for the number of deaths linked to the heatwave.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the mortality rate was rising. “We must not believe we are invulnerable,” he told French TV. “I am thinking especially about the youth… At about 19:30 last night… I saw 100 or so joggers on the street. Frankly, that’s irresponsible.”
The extreme heat is now shifting east, with forecasters in Germany warning temperatures could hit 40C across the country on Friday. An extreme weather warning is also in place across much of the Czech Republic.
United Nations climate change chief Simon Stiell said the “savage heatwave” had “the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it” and called for “a faster shift to renewables, protecting forests and boosting climate resilience”. He warned “it’s just getting started”.