Hongkongers are set to endure a week-long heatwave from Friday, with highs of up to 30 degrees Celsius expected into next week, according to the Observatory (HKO).

It comes after the weather service reported record-breaking heat during March.

See also: How Hong Kong’s elderly face deadly heat inside cramped cage homes

“Under the influence of a southerly airstream, it will be hot over the coast of Guangdong in the next few days,” the Observatory said on Friday. “An anticyclone aloft will cover the northern part of the South China Sea and the coast of southern China early next week.”

By lunchtime on Friday, temperatures had already topped 30 degrees Celsius in some parts of the city.

Showers are expected across southern China and Hong Kong late next week and into next weekend.

Record heat in March

The Observatory noted last week that the city had experienced an unseasonably warm March.

Last month, Hong Kong saw a monthly mean temperature of 21.5 degrees Celsius – the second highest on record. The monthly mean maximum temperature of 24.5 degrees Celsius was the third-highest on record.

In March, the HKO said that the city had experienced its warmest winter on record, with an average temperature reaching 19.3 degrees Celsius.

Also last month, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that the planet’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in history, with Earth gaining much more heat energy than it can release.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the intensity and frequency of heatwaves have continued to increase since the 1950s due to human-caused climate change. The prevalence of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide – which trap heat in the atmosphere – raises the planet’s surface temperature, with hotter, longer heatwaves putting lives at risk.

See also: How extreme heat became the deadliest silent killer among world weather disasters

Hong Kong has already warmed by 1.7 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, research NGO Berkeley Earth says. Heat and humidity may reach lethal levels for protracted periods by the end of the century, according to a 2023 study, making it impossible to stay outdoors in some parts of the world.

“Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. Every key climate indicator is flashing red,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said on World Meteorological Day last month. “Humanity has just endured the 11 hottest years on record. When history repeats itself 11 times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act.”

China called on Friday for Palestinians’ rights to be protected after Israel approved a bill to allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks.

Under the new law, passed by Israel’s parliament on Monday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “terrorism” will face the death penalty as a default sentence.

“The legal rights of the Palestinian people should be respected and protected,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said when asked about the bill at a press briefing on Friday.

“We also hope relevant parties will cease actions that escalate tensions and exacerbate conflict,” she said, without mentioning Israel by name.

“China believes that any law should fulfil legal principles such as equality and justice and should not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or nationality or political views,” Mao added.

A host of countries have criticised the bill, which was supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that applying the new bill in occupied Palestinian territory would constitute a war crime.

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates also lambasted the bill in a joint statement on Thursday.

“This legislation constitutes a dangerous escalation, particularly given its discriminatory application against Palestinian prisoners, and stressed that such measures risk further exacerbating tensions and undermining regional stability,” the statement read.

The European Union also criticised the bill, but the United States has come out in support of “Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws”.

China still uses the death penalty and does not release statistics on executions.

Amnesty International and other rights groups believe thousands of people are executed in the country every year.