China on Monday said the mercury hit 52.2 degrees Celsius in the northwest of the country over the weekend, setting a record for mid-July.

• A weather station in the Xinjiang region's Sanbao village "recorded a temperature peak of 52.2 degrees Celsius at 19:00 on July 16, breaking the historic heat record for the same period of the year.
• The previous record of 50.6C was set in July 2017, according to the statement.
• Xin Xin, an analyst working for the CMA, said in a post on his verified Weibo account that 52.2 degrees Celsius was the "highest measured temperature at a regional station in our country that I have ever seen".