It had an AQI score of 408 at 09:38am. The air was classified as ‘hazardous’.
An AQI score is between 301 and 500 implies health warnings of emergency conditions and the entire population is more likely to be affected.
Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Delhi occupied the top two spots in the list of cities with worst air quality with AQI scores of 308 and 282 respectively.
Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar and Myanmar’s Yangon occupied the second and third spots in the list of cities with worst air quality with AQI scores of 258 and 227 respectively.
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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).
The Department of Environment has also set national ambient air quality standards for these pollutants. These standards aim to protect against adverse human health impacts.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution. The air quality usually improves during monsoon.