Paris has banned drinking takeaway alcohol in the street this weekend and cancelled its Pride march as the deadly heatwave pushes hospital and emergency services to breaking point. The police chief said ambulance services were overwhelmed and hospitals had reached full capacity.
Record temperatures and overwhelmed services
Temperatures in Paris hit a June record of 40.9C (105.6F) on Wednesday, a day after France recorded its hottest day since records began nearly 80 years ago. On Thursday, temperatures pushed close to 40C, with higher levels predicted in some areas on Friday.
“As you know, drinking alcohol with the sun beating down can have a devastating effect,” Paris police chief Patrice Faure told BFM TV. He said emergency services had reached full capacity as the number of serious heat-related illnesses rose. “We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities.”
Pride march postponed, Solidays cancelled
Paris Pride, which draws hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets, was seen by police as a major health risk in the extreme temperatures. Organisers said the event will be held in September instead. The Solidays music festival has also been cancelled.
The street-drinking ban comes into force on Friday afternoon before France plays Norway in the World Cup. Dehydration, cardiac arrests and heat-induced illnesses have become a major problem in Paris this week as temperatures break records day and night.
Alcohol ban details
The alcohol ban is intended to stop people buying beer, wine and spirits from shops and drinking them in the street, beside the city’s canals and the Seine. It began at noon on Friday and will run until 7am on Saturday morning. It will then come into force again at noon on Saturday and run until 7am on Sunday. All sales of takeaway alcohol from shops and supermarkets will be banned from 6pm on Friday through to Saturday morning, and again on Saturday at the same time.
Restaurants, bars and cafes with public seating areas are not included in the ban and their customers can still drink alcohol. “I must ensure that the pressure decreases,” Faure said of hospital services.
Death toll and hospital strain
Full statistics on deaths related to the heatwave are not yet available, but the Paris mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, said this week that deaths in the city will have certainly risen. Paris hospitals, like many across France, are full, authorities said, with some patients being treated in corridors. The city’s ambulance services are responding to 2,500 callouts a day, double the usual figure, and many are related to dehydration and heat-related health crises.
It is not certain how far the alcohol ban will be respected. There was a ban on drinking takeaway alcohol in the street last weekend during the Fête de la Musique in Paris and several other towns, but the cleanup operation in Paris after the festival collected piles of beer cans and wine bottles.
Health minister reports surge in cardiac arrests
The French health minister, Stéphanie Rist, said the ambulance service in Paris had reported four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period. Young people were also suffering them, she said. At least 55 people have drowned in France since the start of the heatwave, and three young children have been found dead in hot cars.
More than 44 million people in France, out of a total population of 67 million, have been under the highest red alert for heat this week, and at least several more days of stifling heat are forecast.
