Parisians will be banned from drinking alcohol in public from midday onwards on Friday in order to try and curb the health issues arising from the heatwave gripping France and much of Europe, the head of the Paris police said on Thursday.
"I will publish an edict this evening which will ban the consumption of alcohol in public from tomorrow midday onwards. As you know, drinking alcohol with the sun beating down can have a devastating effect," Paris police chief Patrice Faure told BFM TV.
He added there would also be a ban on the sale of alcoholic products from Friday evening onwards in Paris.
The directive comes as the temperature in Britain and Switzerland hit record highs for June on Thursday as large parts of Western Europe were in the grip of a deadly early summer heatwave that has killed dozens, disrupted power supplies and shut schools and cultural landmarks.
Also Read: Britain, Switzerland break June record as deadly heatwave grips Europe
French and British authorities warned people to adapt their daily routines to avoid overheating, as the city's hospitals struggled to deal with patients suffering from the heatwave.
"We are just at the start of seeing an increase in people going to emergency wards," French Health Minister Stephanie Rist told a press conference.
Paris swelters, UK and Switzerland hit record highs
Paris endured another sweltering day after temperatures in the French capital hit a June record of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. The peak on Thursday was just under 40 C at Parc Montsouris in the south of the city.
Temperatures reached 36.7 C in southwest England on Thursday, provisionally making it the hottest June day recorded in Britain, surpassing a record set just a day earlier, the Met Office said.
The Met Office extended a red heat alert into Friday for a large area of southern England, the first time such warnings have been issued for three days in a row. A similar warning was issued for the Netherlands for Friday.
