Dhaka’s air second most polluted in the world this morning

The capital city’s air quality continued to be in the ‘unhealthy’ zone on Wednesday morning, UNB reports.

With an air quality index (AQI) score of 166 at 8:41 am on Wednesday, Dhaka ranked second in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.

An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’.

Indonesia’s Jakarta and Chile’s Santiago occupied the first and third spots in the list, with AQI scores of 173 and 157, respectively.

An AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘very unhealthy’, while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risks to residents.

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.

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.