BANGKOK, Jan 9 – Bangkok was ranked the world’s eight worst air quality on Thursday morning on AirVisual, a popular application, monitoring the world’s air quality.
The real-time ranking showed the level of PM2.5 in Bangkok at 10.28 am rose to 99.7 microgrammes per cubic metre (µg/m³), exceeding Thailand’s safety threshold at 50 (µg/m³).
The Air Quality Index reading on Air Visual app was 174 in the Thai capital. The AQI is considered “unhealthy” when the level is above 150 and hazardous above 200.
As poor air quality is predicted to continue until Jan 11, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration stepped up measures to alleviate impacts on Bangkok residents.
Heath department has dispatched health mobile units to conduct an awareness campaign among people, particularly in vulnerable groups such as patients with respiratory or heart diseases, the elderly, children and pregnant women.
The BMA’s Environment Department has implemented the action plan, responding to the ultra-fine dust pollution by strictly controlling sources of dust emissions from vehicles and enforcing the ban on open-air burning.