LAHORE: Indian’s national capital Delhi overtook Lahore on Friday morning to become the world’s most polluted city again in Swiss group IQAir’s live rankings.
According to a report by IQAir, which tracks real-time data on air quality worldwide, the air quality index (AQI) in India’s city of Delhi peaking 521 401 at 9am morning.
Meanwhile, Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, has air pollution levels recorded with AQI 499, making it the second most polluted city globally.
Both cities of the neighbouring countries remained in ‘hazardous’, category considered extremely harmful, and seriously impacts those with existing diseases.
Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka ranks as the world’s third polluted city with an AQI of 179 followed by Cairo, Egypt’s capital, with an AQI soaring to 176.
At the same time, the Lahore concentration of PM2.5 pollutants—fine particulate matter that poses significant health risks—were recorded at 325 micrograms per cubic meter in Lahore, which is over 5 times higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual air quality guideline value.
An AQI below 50 is considered good ‘moderate’ between ’51 and 100′, ‘unhealthy for sensitive group’ at ‘101 and 150’, ‘unhealthy’ at ‘151-200’, very unhealthy at 201-300, 301 and above is ‘hazardous’.
According to this year’s life quality index Institute report, compiled by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, the people of Lahore have could their lives shortened by 7.5 years due to the poor air they breathe.
To control the smog crisis, the Punjab government has this month closed public places including parks, zoos, playgrounds, joy/play lands, historical places, monuments, and museums in smog-hit districts including Lahore.
Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has described smog as a serious threat and said that it is likely to cause 250,000 premature deaths.
It should be noted that the situation of smog in the capitals of Punjab, Lahore, and Multan, is particularly disturbing. The provincial capital has been the most polluted city in the world for many days.
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