France, June 24 -- The national weather service Meteo-France placed 58 departments on red alert and another 31 on orange alert. Four northern departments - Aisne, Somme, Nord and Pas-de-Calais - were added to the highest warning level on Wednesday.

Estimates reported by the French news agency AFP showed around 44 million of France's nearly 67 million people were under the highest level of heat alert.

France is likely to see a "relative pause" in the current heatwave next week, Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told the broadcaster France Inter.

"Meteo-France tells us there is a strong probability that from the week of 6 July, we will return to extreme heat until 14 July."

A third heatwave in July was also possible, Barbut ...