Britain will come to a standstill on Monday as trains across the country are canceled and people are told to consider staying at home in the heatwave.
General speed restrictions will be in place on all rail lines, with both train operators and Highways England warning people not to travel.
The Met Office said it would “generally” be safer for people to stay indoors if possible.
Some GP surgeries and operating theaters have already closed as hospital bosses warned the extreme weather was making it difficult to maintain services. Work centers in areas covered by a red warning for severe weather will also be closed.
Schools in several counties, including Nottinghamshire and Hampshire, have confirmed they will close for two days following the health alerts. Others have reduced opening hours amid Met Office warnings that temperatures will soar to 38C and 40C in some areas.
The UK’s first red extreme heat warning covers much of England from London to Manchester and York for both Monday and Tuesday, and the UK’s Health Safety Agency has issued a level four heat health warning which describes as a “national emergency”.
Tracey Nicholls, chief executive of the College of Paramedics, warned the “brutal heat” could kill people.
But Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, said the country needed to be resilient enough to withstand the pressures brought on by the heat and urged people to “enjoy the sun” as long as they took “common sense” precautions.
David Davies, a senior member of the Tory backbenchers, said: “Obviously if you’re at risk, if you’re a young child or an elderly person, or have any other illness, be careful and obviously use hats and sunscreen and use shade. But people exist in the Mediterranean climate and cope with it. So if we use common sense, we can do the same.
Another senior Tory MP said he thought the public health reports were “highly inflated and fear-mongering of the worst kind”.
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