Dhaka’s air quality still ‘moderate’ thanks to public holiday

Dhaka’s air quality was marked as moderate on Wednesday morning and thin traffic on the city streets for Ashura holiday can be attributed to that.

With an air quality index (AQI) score of 83 at 11:30 am, Dhaka ranked 18th on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.

When the AQI value for particle pollution is between 50 and 100, air quality is considered ‘moderate’, usually sensitive individuals should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion, between 101 and 150, air quality is considered ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’, between 150 and 200 is ‘unhealthy’, between 201 and 300 is said to be 'very unhealthy', while a reading of 301+ is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.

Pakistan’s Lahore, Egypt’s Cairo City and Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa occupied the first, second and third spots in the list, with AQI scores of 162, 141 and 134, respectively.

The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them. The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five 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. As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.