Dhaka's air quality ‘unhealthy’, 5th worst in the world this morning
UNB
Publish: 11 Jun 2024, 02:46 PM
DHAKA,
Jun 11 (UNB)-Dhaka's air quality was categorised as 'unhealthy' this morning.
With an air quality
index (AQI) score of 152 at 9:00 am, Dhaka ranked 5th on the list of cities
worldwide with the worst air quality.
India's Delhi,
Democratic Republic of the Congo's Kinshasa and Indonesia's Jakarta occupied
the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 260, 174 and 159
respectively.
When the AQI value for
particle pollution is between 101 and 150, air quality is considered 'unhealthy
for sensitive groups', between 150 and 200 is 'unhealthy', between 201 and 300
is said to be 'very unhealthy', while a reading of 301+ is considered
'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
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.
The AQI in Bangladesh is
based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2,
and ozone.
Dhaka has long been
grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in
winter and improves during the monsoon.
As per World Health
Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people
worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart
disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute
respiratory infections.
END/UNB/PR/KW