A cold snap is persisting in mainland China, and as COVID-19 concerns prevail, early-morning commuters in Beijing are braving record-low temperatures in facial masks frozen solid.

It was only -19℃ on Thursday morning in the outskirts of Beijing, breaking the 1969 record to become the coldest January morning on record for the city in the past 50 years.

A 10-kilometer section of the Yangtze River had also frozen over in Shanxi province, causing a rapid rise in water levels upstream.

The National Meteorological Center renewed its blue alert for the cold weather, warning that the frigid front would cover 90 percent of the Chinese mainland.

Most of the provinces recorded temperatures found only in refrigerator freezers. Northern and western provinces, with their higher altitudes and mountainous terrain, are the coldest, mostly no higher than -18℃. Provinces below those areas have seen the mercury dip to -7℃ or lower.

The eastern provinces have been the worst hit, with the Shandong peninsula seeing strong winds and snow.

Meanwhile in Taiwan, temperatures are set to drop below 6°C in the upcoming week. The mountainsides in Yilan, Taoyuan and Xinzhu counties may be seeing snow, with the government warning its people to prepare for the cold.

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