Among the world’s 100 cities in terms of air pollution, the capital Dhaka is at the top this Thursday morning.
Dhaka scores 187 at 8 am today in IQAir’s air quality index. This air quality is ‘unhealthy’.
Dhaka’s score was 104 at nine o’clock on Wednesday morning. At that time, Dhaka was ranked ninth among 119 cities in the world. Air quality was ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’.
IQAir, a Switzerland-based organization, regularly highlights the situation of air pollution. This live or instant indicator of air quality informs and alerts people about how clean or polluted the air is in a particular city.
Pakistan’s Lahore was at the second position after Dhaka in air pollution around eight o’clock this morning. The city scores 177 on IQAir’s index. Egypt’s Cairo in third place scored 153.
According to IQAir criteria, a score of 51 to 100 is considered moderate or acceptable air quality.
A score of 101 to 150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include the elderly, children, sick people and pregnant women. A score of 151 to 200 is unhealthy air.
A score of 201 to 300 indicates very unhealthy air. A score of 301 and above is considered catastrophic or risky.
Among the advice given by IQAir to avoid air pollution in Dhaka, is to wear a mask when going outside the house. Apart from this, it is advised not to exercise outside the house.