No respite from unhealthy air in Dhaka

City Desk :
Dhaka’s air quality continued to be in the ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’ zone on Thursday morning.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 120 at 8:57 am, Dhaka ranked 6th in the list of cities around the world with the worst air quality.
Chaina’s Sanghai, Indonesia’s Jakarta and China’s Wuhan occupied the first three spots, with AQI scores of 156, 156 and 134, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups, reports UNB.

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.
AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform 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 issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.