Life

A two-day nationwide closure in Iran marks a new era of heat waves forcing authorities around the world to shut schools, close tourist sites and shorten working hours.

Iran’s declaration of a two-day public holiday over life-threatening heat, as temperatures in parts of the country are forecast to touch 50C (122F), is an eerie echo of restrictions enacted to protect citizens from the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a demonstration of the elevated public-health risks caused by climate change that will impose increasingly severe costs on human life and the global economy.The decision to close offices, banks and the stock exchange on Wednesday and Thursday is likely the first nationwide shutdown in response to extreme heat. The government told people to stay indoors during the day as temperatures climb, though some air-conditioned areas including shopping centers operated as usual. The measure may have been unprecedented, but there have already been dozens of localized curbs on daily life during the hottest June and July on record.“While it is unusual to require a national public holiday to protect people, it is sadly no longer unusual for heat waves to cause major disruption and increases in deaths among the vulnerable,” said Pete Baker, a policy fellow and assistant director of global health at the Center for Global Development.In recent months, schools in India, Mexico and the Philippines have sent children home or altered teaching hours. Greece shut down the Acropolis temporarily last month and imposed work restrictions between noon and 5pm as ravaging wildfires forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists. The US city of Phoenix, which baked in 110F (43C) temperatures for a record 31 days, closed hiking trails.

More restrictions could be ahead as heat becomes more intense year by year. Italy, where residents experienced both 45C heat and tennis-ball sized hailstones last month, is considering whether it should bring back pandemic-era furloughs for farmworkers. A German official wants Spanish-style midday siestas for workers.More than 6.5 billion people — or 81% of the planet’s population — were exposed to climate change-attributed heat in July, according to a report published Wednesday by Climate Central.