Dhaka's air quality has turned 'good'. With an air quality index (AQI) score of 37 at 9.04am, the densely populated metropolis ranked 39th in the list of world cities with the worst air quality. Indonesia’s Jakarta, Pakistan’s Lahore and Chile’s Santiago occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 160, 151 and 124, respectively. An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups. Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents. Read: Global pollution kills 9 million people a year, study finds 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 in winter and improves during the 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 work, 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 a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies. 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.

The air of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka showed signs of slight improvement Sunday morning but it was still classified as ‘unhealthy’ in the Air Quality Index.

Despite efforts by the government, Bangladesh’s citizens continue to breathe in the most polluted air in the world exposing themselves to various diseases in addition to financial loss.