India issues heat wave alert as Delhi posts record high temperature

India's weather department issued a red alert for several parts of the country's northwest on Wednesday, warning of a severe heat wave a day after parts of the capital Delhi recorded their highest temperature ever at almost 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). A red alert implies a "very high likelihood" of people developing "heat illness and heat stroke", and calls for "extreme care" for vulnerable people, according to the India Meteorological Department. Local weather stations in Delhi's Mungeshpur and Narela neighbourhoods recorded a temperature of 49.9 degrees Celsius on Tuesday - an all time record for the city and 9 C above normal. Delhi's local government also restricted the supply of water because of the heat. It said water levels in the Yamuna River, the main source, were low. The city does not have uninterrupted water supply at any time, but the government said neighbourhoods which received water for some hours two times a day would be subject to further restrictions. "I appeal to all the residents that whether there is a water problem in your area or not, please use water very carefully," the local government's Water Minister Atishi, who used only one name, said on Tuesday. Billions of people across Asia, including India's neighbour Pakistan, have been experiencing a hotter summer this year - a trend international scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.