City Desk :
Dhaka topped the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality with an AQI score of 190 at 9:02am on Friday morning.
The air was classified as “unhealthy,” according to the air quality index, reports UNB.
Pakistan’s Lahore, Senegal’s Dakar, Kazakhstan’s Astana, and India’s Delhi occupied the second, third, fourth, and fifth spots on the list, with AQI scores of 183, 171, 169, and 169, respectively.
An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered “unhealthy,” while 201-300 is “very unhealthy,” and 301+ is considered “hazardous,” posing severe health risks to residents.
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.
The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.
Dhaka has long grappled with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in the winter and improves during the monsoon.
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.
