Dhaka ranks worst in air quality again

Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka ranked the worst in Air Quality Index (AQI) again on Thursday.

The independent live air-quality index monitor, Air Visual, shows Dhaka’s AQI value as 433 around 8:30am.

Myanmar’s Yangon, Mongolia's Ulaanbaatar and Pakistan Lahore stood second, third and fourth in the list of poor air cities with AQI values 264, 254, and 223 respectively.

Earlier, Dhaka had topped the list on 17 and 23 November, 26 December, 6 and 29 January. The city has been continuously staying within the five most polluted cities around the world.

The AQI is a tool for measuring daily air quality of any city or country. It refers to the degree of pollution or cleanliness of the air. An AQI score between 201 and 300 indicates the air is unhealthy while a value over 300 refers the air is highly dangerous with possible serious health complications.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants including Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3).

The environment department 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 suffering from a number of environmental pollutions including that of air.