City Desk:
Dhaka’s air quality was ‘moderate’ on Saturday morning, thanks to the rain on Friday night.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 98 at 8:52 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked 12th among cities worldwide with the worst air quality.
An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution, reports UNB.
Chile’s Santiago, South Africa’s Johannesburg and Pakistan’s Karachi occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 171, 165, and 154, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups.
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘poor’, 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.