Photo: Collected
Metropolis Desk-
Dhaka ranks first in the world’s most polluted cities with ‘very unhealthy’ air quality. Dhaka’s Air Quality Index (AQI) score is 216 at 1:14 pm today, Saturday. An AQI score between 201 and 300 is considered ‘very unhealthy.’ Pakistan’s Lahore and Karachi ranked second and third on the list with AQI scores of 239 and 204, respectively.
An AQI score between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’ for sensitive groups. On the other hand, an AQI between 301 and 400 is considered ‘risky,’ which poses a severe health risk to residents.
Dhaka has been plagued with air pollution problems for a long time. Its air quality generally becomes unhealthy during winters and improves slightly during monsoons.
Dhaka topped the world’s most polluted cities for five consecutive days last week. For the remaining two days, it was in second to fourth position. On December 10 and 11, from 9 am to 11 am, the AQI score was in the range of 190-220. For these two days, Dhaka was ranked second to fourth in the world’s list of most polluted cities.
Since then, the air quality has started to deteriorate. From December 12 to last Friday, Dhaka was at the top of the world’s most polluted city list for several hours of the day.
AQI score was 202 at 10 am on December 12, 265 at 11 am on December 13; the capital’s air quality was 382 at 10:10 am on December 14, and 337 at 10:30 am on December 15.
Dhaka was at its peak from 9 am to 8 pm yesterday on holiday. Air quality was between 210 and 256.
