With an average of 26.01°C (degrees Celsius), according to data from the European Copernicus programme recorded on Sunday and analysed by Météo-France, the Mediterranean Sea had never recorded such a high surface temperature.

And on land too, records have been broken since the beginning of this extreme heatwave.

Record highs and lows for the month of June were also recorded at several Spanish stations, according to the Aemet meteorological agency.

On 28 June, a historic record for the month of June was recorded in Huelva, with a temperature of 46°C, surpassing the 45.2°C recorded in Seville in 1965.

France experienced its hottest night on record for June on the night of 29 June. A monthly record was also set on 30 June, according to provisional data released on Monday evening by Météo-France.

Paris will be placed on red alert for a heatwave today, following in the footsteps of Rome and Milan.

Today, 84 of France's 95 departments (excluding overseas territories) were on orange alert, a geographical extent considered “unprecedented” according to the Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

In Italy, the Ministry of Health has placed 17 cities on red alert, including Rome, Milan, Florence and Verona. ‘Climate shelters’ have been set up in Bologna and dehumidifiers distributed to those in need in Ancona.

This is “one of the strongest heatwaves of the summer”, which is also notable for its particularly long duration, expert Antonio Spano, founder of the specialist website ilmeteo.it, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

While firefighters battled forest fires in several regions of Italy, local media reported that a 77-year-old woman died on Sunday, suffocated by smoke from a fire that broke out near her home in Potenza (south).