ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s health ministry declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday, advising people to stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day.

The number of red alerts in cities will rise to 16 on Wednesday and 17 on Thursday, the ministry said.

During a red alert — the highest level on the scale — the ministry advises people to eat light and sprinkle themselves with cool water.

There have been blackouts in Milan and Turin because of the spike in the use of air conditioning.

The hospital service in Parma in northern Italy said 1,068 people had accessed its emergency care facilities over the last three days because of the heatwave.

In Rome, a doctors’ association was quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily as saying that seven public health service clinics had broken or no air conditioning.

The city’s transport authority told the daily that the batteries on its new electric buses were running out faster than usual because of more air conditioning.

“We are organising the service to face up to this unusual heatwave,” the Atac authority was quoted as saying.