Beijing air pollution prompts red alert, closes schools

A five-day red alert was declared Thursday in Beijing, as air pollutuion levels topped 500 on the Air Quality Index. Schools were closed, construction was halted and traffic was reduced. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (UPI) — Beijing issued a five-day red alert as the year’s most severe air pollution enveloped the city.

The alert for Beijing and neighboring Tianjin Municipality came Thursday after readings of over 500 on a globally recognized Air Quality Index were noted; the World Health Organization has said the maximum safe level for humans over a 24-hour period is 25. AQI levels were over 400 in Beijing during two days in November.

The AQI measures the concentration of particles in the air, known as PM 2.5, per cubic meter.

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, with a color-graded warning system of blue, yellow, orange and red – its most severe – said 21 more cities, including Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan and Zhengzhou, are expected to issue red alerts, and nine others expected to issue orange alerts.

In Beijing, schools are closed, construction work is halted, and traffic has been halved by using an odd-or-even license plate system for allowing vehicles on the road. Heavy vehicles have been banned from the streets and citizens have been advised to stay indoors.

The capital city’s air quality is regarded as the world’s worst. A 2015 study indicated that China’s air pollution is linked to 1.6 million deaths, or 4,000 per day. The cause is attributed to industrial pollution, notably the burning of coal in factories, and Chinese air pollution tends to be most severe in the winter, when coal-fired heating systems are in use.

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