Paris to ban drinking alcohol in public as hospitals hit heatwave breaking point

Public drinking ban begins Friday

Paris is moving to temporarily ban drinking alcohol in public and restrict takeaway alcohol sales during peak hours as the French capital tries to ease pressure on hospitals during a severe heatwave.

Paris police prefect Patrice Faure said the measures are meant to reduce strain on medical facilities as emergency demand rises with extreme temperatures. The restrictions come after several days of warnings that hospitals and ambulance services were struggling to keep up.

The ban starts at noon on Friday, June 27, 2026, and runs until 7 a.m. Saturday. It then repeats from Saturday noon through Sunday morning.

Takeaway alcohol sales are also restricted from 6 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, and again from 6 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday.

What is covered

The order applies to public drinking and to off-premise alcohol sales during the restricted hours.

It does not apply to restaurants and cafes with public seating areas that have the necessary permits. Licensed terraces will therefore remain able to serve alcohol.

That carve-out leaves Paris with a narrower restriction aimed at public spaces and shop sales rather than a full shutdown of alcohol service.

Heatwave pressure on hospitals

The move comes as France remains in the grip of a severe heatwave. Temperatures in Paris reached 40.9C in June, and the city was again near 40C on Thursday, June 26, 2026.

French health minister Stéphanie Rist said Paris ambulance services reported four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period. Earlier reporting also pointed to a sharp rise in emergency visits across France as the heat intensified.

Le Monde reported on June 24 that emergency hospital visits were climbing, while later coverage described hospitals as moving closer to breaking point. Paris authorities are now using alcohol restrictions as part of the emergency response.

Broader emergency response

Paris has already taken other heat-response steps, including keeping parks open around the clock and limiting alcohol at some public events.

The temporary ban extends that approach into public drinking and shop sales, reflecting how local officials are trying to manage the knock-on effects of extreme heat on the health system.

The stated aim is not just to curb public drinking, but to reduce heat-related hospitalizations and limit avoidable pressure on emergency care.

What happens next

The immediate question is whether the prefecture will publish a fuller written order with more enforcement detail. Another open question is whether nearby departments in the Paris region will adopt similar restrictions if the heatwave continues.

Officials are also watching whether emergency service pressure eases or worsens over the weekend. If temperatures stay high, the restrictions could become part of a wider set of measures to manage the public-health strain.

For now, Paris is signaling that the heatwave is no longer only a weather emergency. It is also becoming a hospital-capacity problem, and the city is responding with temporary limits on behavior that can add to that pressure.