The city’s air quality improved to the ‘very poor’ level on Wednesday from the ‘severe’ category a day ago, according to official data.
The AQI is likely to deteriorate in the next two days and stay in the ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ category.
The contribution of stubble burning in the neighbouring States to PM2.5, a chief pollutant, in Delhi was 27% and the number of active fires was 5,317 on Wednesday. The Capital’s AQI was recorded at 372, down from 404 on Tuesday, said CPCB’s 4 p.m. bulletin.
Several towns in north India, including Baghpat, Panipat, Bulandshahr and Jind faced ‘severe’ levels of air pollution on Wednesday.
“Winds at transport level are likely to increase in speed for the next two days and the direction (coming from northwest) is also favourable for transport of stubble-related pollutants to Delhi as fire counts are also increasing. The air quality is expected to deteriorate for the next two days but remains in upper end of ‘very poor’ or touch lower end of ‘severe’ category intermittently,” government-run monitoring agency SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research) said in a statement.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.
Talking about the impact of ‘severe’ air pollution, Anant Mohan, HOD of Pulmonary Medicine at AIIMS, Delhi, said every system gets affected in the long run. “Being exposed to polluted air can cause asthma, allergic disorders, eye diseases and cardiovascular disorders, hypertension and other diseases,” he said.
“Respiratory tract is the main system getting affected (due to air pollution), but in the long run every system gets affected. Children will be the most affected and many respiratory diseases are increasing in children most probably because of air pollution. They are more susceptible as their lungs are in the growing phase,” Dr. Mohan said.
