The smog is clear about harming us
- an hours ago
Thick smog shrouded New Delhi and other cities around South and Southeast Asia as air pollution levels soared. Air pollution in the region worsens particularly in winter when the burning of crop residue in agricultural areas coincides with cooler temperatures that trap the smoke. The smoke is blown into cities, where there are more people and where auto emissions further add to the pollution. Emissions from industries without pollution controls and the use of coal to produce electricity are also linked to poor air quality in urban areas.
Several studies have estimated more than a million Indians die each year from air pollution-related diseases.
New Delhi's air quality fell into the severe category, according to SAFAR, India's main environmental monitoring agency. It measures particulate matter in the air that can enter the lungs.In many areas of the city, the levels were more than 50 times higher than the World Health Organization's recommended safe limit. Forecasters warned air quality will worsen before the arrival of cold winds next week that could blow away the smog.
Lahore, Pakistan, which is on the border with India, had an air quality index level considered hazardous, according to the Swiss group IQAir, which tracks global air quality.
The levels in Hanoi, Vietnam, were unhealthy, according to IQAir. Transport, industry and construction were the main causes of bad air in Hanoi, Nguyen Hoang Anh, deputy head of the environmental quality management division at the ministry's Pollution Control Department told state media on Monday.
Hanoi has around 1 million cars and nearly 7 million motorbikes. Many are old and don't meet emission standards. Construction projects also don't stop dust from escaping, and factories use fossil fuel for power, contributing to the city's smog.
Bangkok's air quality was unhealthy for sensitive groups on IQAir. The Meteorological Department said air ventilation rates have been poor recently and an atmospheric inversion layer caused airborne particles to accumulate.
New Delhi ordered all primary schools to cease in-person classes until further notice due to worsening smog in the sprawling megacity.
New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter.
The smog is blamed for thousands of premature deaths each year and is an annual source of misery for the capital's residents, with various piecemeal government initiatives failing to measurably address the problem.
Schools are often shut during the worst weeks of the annual smog crisis, which also prompts numerous other disruptions across the city. Authorities also regularly impose bans on construction activity and restrict diesel-powered goods trucks from other parts of the country in an effort to alleviate the toxic clouds blanketing the capital.
Grey skies and acrid fumes have made life a misery for New Delhi's inhabitants this week.
Levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- were recorded more than 50 times above the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum.
A study in The Lancet medical journal attributed 1.67 million premature deaths to air pollution in the world's most populous country in 2019.
The choking carbon smog across New Delhi came as researchers warned that planet-warming fossil fuel emissions would hit a record high this year, according to new findings from an international network of scientists at the Global Carbon Project.
The UN children's agency warned that the health of 11 million children in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province is in danger because of air pollution that experts say has become a fifth season in recent years.
Toxic smog has shrouded Pakistan's cultural capital of Lahore and 17 other districts in Punjab since last month. Health officials say more than 40,000 people have been treated for respiratory ailments.
