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Opens the app if installed, or Google Play to download it.Delhi was the world’s most polluted major city on Saturday morning, with its air quality deteriorating sharply a day before Diwali, according to Swiss air quality monitoring group IQAir.
IQAir ranked Delhi first among major cities worldwide at 10.35 am, with an air quality index (AQI) of 581 on its US-based scale. The reading was nearly twice that of Lahore in neighbouring Pakistan, which recorded an AQI of 285.
India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), using its own monitoring system, recorded Delhi’s AQI at 363 at 10 am, placing it in the ‘very poor’ category.
Authorities have directed schools in and around Delhi to conduct classes online and encouraged people to work from home ahead of Diwali on Sunday, when firecracker use is expected to add to pollution levels.
Friday reportedly recorded Delhi’s worst pre-Diwali air quality in eight years, according to local media reports citing official data.
Air pollution is a recurring problem across northern India during winter, when cold and stagnant air traps pollutants from vehicles, construction activities and crop residue burning, worsening air quality.
Editorial note: IQAir’s US AQI and India’s CPCB AQI use different scales and methodologies, so their readings should not be directly compared.
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