More than a thousand schools were closed in France on Tuesday and the top floor of the Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists as a severe heatwave continued to grip Europe, triggering health alerts across the region.

Dozens of the country's mainland regions are currently under the second-highest alert as the heatwave continues.

The extreme heat increased the risk of field fires as farmers in France, the EU’s largest grain producer, begin harvesting this year’s crop.