Although the air of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka marked a significant improvement on Wednesday morning, it was still classified as ‘unhealthy’ in the Air Quality Index (AQI).
Dhaka had an AQI score of 135 at 10:17am. It stood 20th in the list of cities with worst air.
Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Mumbai occupied the first and second spots with scores of 187and 177 respectively while Poland’s Krakow ranked third in the list of cities with worst air with 176.
When the AQI value is between 101 and 150, members of sensitive groups may experience health effects while general public is less likely to be affected.
The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants – Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3).
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution. Its air quality usually improves during monsoon, reports UNB.