A public air-raid shelters in Hangzhou which can provide coolness to nearby residents. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

With scorching heat waves sweeping across China, cities in East China's Zhejiang have adopted a batch of measures to provide more cooling places to residents.

On Wednesday, Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, issued its first red alert for high temperatures with the highest temperature at noon exceeding 39 degrees.

Since late June, the city has gradually opened multiple free cool spots for citizens to seek relief from the scorching weather, including subway stations and air-raid shelters.

Starting from Monday, the Hangzhou Metro has set up special areas for citizens to avoid the summer heat at its stations. These areas, located alongside seven subway lines with an additional two lines currently in the planning stages, were designed to offer cooling spaces for residents who live near these stations.

Aside from this, the city has also opened six air-raid shelters to the public, which will be open to residents for nine hours each day over the next two months.