Fires, which have razed about 6,200 hectares, have now crossed in the neighbouring Landes region.

France, like the rest of Europe, is coping with heatwaves and drought that have triggered multiple wildfires across the continent over the past two months.

Temperatures have been expected to hit 37 Celsius in the southwest before the baking hot air spreads north early in the week.

According to data from the World Cities Culture Forum, only 10% of Paris is made up of green space such as parks and gardens compared to London at 33% and Oslo at 68%.

The viral disease has been spreading chiefly in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside Africa where it is endemic.

The government is facing criticism from some quarters that border controls are too weak, while others say people seeking asylum are being treated inhumanely.

Britain has recorded its highest-ever temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, while firefighters in France battled to contain forest wildfires as a heatwave rising from the south settled over western Europe.

Fires in the region have now spread over 14,800 hectares.

Thousands of hectares of heavily wooded land are under threat, as winds gusting at up to 80km/h fan the flames through the dried-out trees.

With mask wearing no longer mandatory in most places except in hospitals and a sharp increase in international travel, the trend turned in June and authorities have said France is now in a seventh wave of the epidemic.

This follows an acrimonious row between the countries over a submarine contract last year.

It says It will 'no longer be possible to use terms proper to sectors traditionally associated with meat and fish to designate products not belonging to the animal kingdom'.