Dhaka’s air quality shows significant improvement

Dhaka’s air showed significant improvement on Monday morning as the capital city ranked 40th worst in the Air Quality Index (AQI), reports UNB.

It had an AQI score of 60 at 08:31am and its air quality was classified as ‘Moderate’.

India’s Delhi, Indonesia’s Jakarta and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the first three spots in the list of cities with the worst air with scores of 208, 152 and 142 respectively.

When the AQI value is between 51 and 100, air quality is moderate and active children and adult and people with respiratory diseases are advised to avoid staying outside longer.

Bangladesh has shut down educational institutions, mass transport, restricted the movement of people and vehicles to tackle the spread of coronavirus. People have been asked to stay indoors.

This has significantly cut down air pollution in Dhaka which regularly ranks among top 10 cities with worst air quality.

The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs 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. Its air quality usually improves during monsoon.