Smog soars to hazardous levels in Beijing
Pollution in the capital expected to continue until Wednesday
Beijing was again engulfed in heavy smog on Monday, sending air pollution readings soaring ahead of President Xi Jinping’s address to the global climate change summit in Paris.
Both the US embassy in Beijing and the municipal government said the air pollution in the capital was at hazardous levels, with the main pollutants in both cases PM2.5 particles, very fine pollutants that are especially harmful to human health.
The municipal reading on Monday was roughly 40 per cent higher than that a day earlier.
READ MORE: Hazardous smog levels engulf Beijing and northern China: children and elderly warned to stay indoors
Persistent pollution prompted the authorities to issue the year’s first orange pollution alert – the second highest in the four-tier system – on Sunday.
The situation was expected to be compounded with traffic authorities forecasting major congestion on the roads partly due to the weather.
As a result of the alert, the authorities ordered kindergartens and primary schools to stop all outdoor excises, and recommended that the elderly and the sick stay indoors. The smog was expected to continue until early Wednesday, the city’s environment bureau said.
Sharon Wang, who lives in the northern district of Wangjing, said the air smelled of smoke.
