Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka was ranked third worst in Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday morning, making outdoor activity for sensitive groups unpreferable.

The capital city had an AQI score of 196 around 10:27am as the air was classified as ‘unhealthy’.

An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.

Afghanistan’s Kabul and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the first two slots in the list of cities with the worst air quality with AQI scores of 337 and 294 respectively.

READ: Dhaka breathes “unhealthy” air in the morning, says a global monitor

AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform 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.

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy during winter and improves during monsoon.

A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites".

With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction works, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.

Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.

READ: Dhaka breathes better as its air quality improves

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.