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It had an AQI score of 179 at 07:41am. The air was classified as ‘unhealthy’.
Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar and Thailand’s Chiang Mai occupied the first and second spots in the list of cities with worst air quality with AQI scores of 231 and 183 respectively.
When the AQI value is between 150 and 200, it is a health warning of red alert and some members of the general public are likely to be affected.
In this situation, members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
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. Its air quality usually improves during monsoon.