More than 1 million people died from dirty air in one year, according to World Health Organisation

China is the world’s deadliest country for outdoor air pollution, according to analysis by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UN agency has previously warned that tiny particulates from cars, power plants and other sources are killing 3 million people worldwide each year.

For the first time the WHO has broken down that figure to a country-by-country level. It reveals that of the worst three nations, more than 1 million people died from dirty air in China in 2012, at least 600,000 in India and more than 140,000 in Russia.



At 25th out of 184 countries with data, the UK ranks worse than France, with 16,355 deaths in 2012 versus 10,954, but not as poorly as Germany at 26,160, which has more industry and 16 million more people. Australia had 94 deaths and 38,043 died in the US that year from particulate pollution.



Maria Neria, director of the WHO’s public health and the environment department, told the Guardian: “Countries are confronted with the reality of better data. Now we have the figures of how many citizens are dying from air pollution. What we are learning is, this is very bad. Now there are no excuses for not taking action.”

Gavin Shaddick, who led the international team that put together the data, said: “Globally, air pollution presents a major risk to public health and a substantial number of lives could be saved if levels of air pollution were reduced.”



Sixteen scientists from eight international institutions worked with WHO on the analysis, which gathered data from 3,000 locations, using pollution monitors on the ground, modelling and satellite readings.

They looked at exposure to tiny particulates 2.5 microns in size, known as PM2.5s, which penetrate the lungs and are the air pollutant most strongly associated with an increased risk of death. “The real driver of ill health is ultra-fine particles, 2.5s – they have the ability to permeate the membrane of the lungs and enter our blood system,” said Shaddick, who is based at the University of Bath. “Increasingly there is an understanding that there are not just respiratory diseases but cardiovascular ones associated with PM2.5s.”

In the UK more than 90% of the population lives in areas with levels of PM2.5s above the WHO’s air-quality limits of 10 micrograms per cubic metre for the annual mean. The government is in the high court on 18 and 19 October facing a legal challenge by environmental law group ClientEarth, which says ministers’ clean-up plans for another pollutant – nitrogen dioxide – are inadequate.

Globally, 92% of the population breathes air that breaches WHO limits but the world map of deaths caused by PM2.5s changes when looked at per capita. When ranked by the number of deaths for every 100,000 people, Ukraine jumps to the top of the list at 120.

It is followed by eastern European and former Soviet states, and Russia itself, probably due to a legacy of heavy industry in the region. China drops down to 10th, at 76 per 100,000, and India falls to 27th, with 49 per 100,000.



Most of the air pollution comes from cars, coal-fired plants and waste burning but not all of it is created by humans. Dust storms in places close to deserts also contribute to dirty air, explaining partly why Iran is at 16th highest for total deaths, at 26,000 a year.



Most of the total deaths worldwide – two out of three – occur in south-east Asia and the western Pacific, which includes China, Vietnam, Japan, Australia, South Korea and small Pacific island states.



Shaddick said: “We might think of [pollution in] Beijing as being very high, but when you fill in the gaps between the big [Chinese] cities, [air pollution in] regions [is] remarkably high compared to the WHO limits [10 grams per cubic metre for the annual mean], up in the 50s and 60s. That’s something we in the west can’t even comprehend. That was probably a bit of a shock [to me].”

The Pacific states of Brunei Darussalam, Fiji and Vanuatu have the lowest number of deaths from air pollution, the WHO found.



Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris and chair-elect of a network of cities combating climate change, said: “Fighting pollution is one of my top priorities as mayor of Paris. It is a vital public health issue and all mayors should take on their responsibility to deliver bold actions.”

The city of Paris voted on Monday to ban cars along a stretch of the river Seine to cut pollution, defeating a minority rightwing opposition.



Hidalgo added: “I have said it before and am saying it again: we cannot negotiate with Parisians’ health.”

Neira said Canada and Scandinavian countries deserved praise for curbing air pollution and singled out France too. “France is taking a lot of action, Paris is taking aggressive measures: aggressive in the good sense. [It] maybe unpopular because it’s for the health of people but they are putting some restrictions on individuals. We all need to understand this is a matter of public health,” she said. </s> More than nine out of 10 people worldwide live in areas with excessive air pollution, contributing to strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other problems, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

The U.N. health agency said in a new report that 92 per cent of people live in areas where air quality exceeds WHO limits, with southeast Asia, eastern Mediterranean and western Pacific regions hardest hit.

The country-by-country figures come from new satellite data over rural areas to complement traditional ground measurements of pollution, mostly in cities, in about 3,000 places worldwide.

A similar WHO report released in May that said 98 per cent of residents in large cities of low- and middle-income countries face excessively high air pollution.

A camel stands in front of a chemical plant that produces an abundance of carbon soot adjacent to the Caspian Sea in 1997 on Turkmenistan's Cheleken peninsula. The country has the highest rate of deaths per capita due to ambient air pollution in a new WHO report. (Reza/Getty)

WHO says one in nine deaths worldwide is linked to indoor and outdoor pollution.

Turkmenistan has the highest rate of deaths per capita due to ambient air pollution in the WHO's classification, followed by Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and China.

Tuesday's report focuses on outdoor air pollution, which is estimated to kill about 3 million people per year based on 2012 figures, the most recent available.

"There are two things happening. One is: rich countries are getting much better in improving the quality of the air. And two: poorer countries are getting worse. That is the overall trend," said Dr. Carlos Dora, WHO co-ordinator for environmental and social determinants of health.

The aim is to educate both policymakers and individuals about the risks, at a time of spiraling health care costs. Dora noted, for example, that doctors could advise their patients about higher risks of heart disease in some countries, or how solar lamps could substitute for kerosene lamps that are used in many parts of the developing world.

He said WHO has no evidence that face masks like those worn in many parts of Asia and beyond help reduce exposure to fine particles.

He noted that North America is faring well compared with Europe, mostly due to Europe's greater dependence on diesel fuel and partially due to farm policies that generate agricultural ammonia and methane.

While China ranked sixth among countries with the highest number of deaths per capita due to ambient air pollution, Dora said the country is doing "an amazing amount of stuff" to fight it, such as with clean cars. But coal-fired power plants, household burning of coal and wood to produce energy, and transportation remain big generators of pollution in China, he said. </s> (CNN) Almost everyone on Earth now breathes polluted air, according to an air quality map released Tuesday by the World Health Organization.

The interactive map , based on global air pollution data, confirms that 92% of the world's population lives in places where outdoor air quality fails to meet WHO guidelines.

This is a concerning public health issue, as air pollution can harm your lungs, heart and even brain -- with the potential to cause premature death , said Dr. Maria Neira, director of the organization's Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

Just how deadly is air pollution? About 3 million deaths each year can be linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution, according to the WHO.

"What is still surprising is the fact that we have been alerting about these horrible figures for a while now, and it's not improving," Neira said.From 2008 to 2013, global urban air pollution levels rose by 8%, despite improvements in some regions, according to the WHO.

Data were collected from 2008 to 2015 using satellite measurements, air transport models and ground-station monitors based in more than 3,000 locations in 103 countries.

"With more accurate methodology and satellite information and better calculation of the estimates and using the standards, now we can be more confident in the data," Neira said.

PM measurements were used to build the map because particulate matter includes different pollutants, it is universally present around the globe and it poses a public health risk, she said.

PM2.5 includes pollutants such as sulfate, nitrates and black carbon, which can sneak deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system.

"We also have data to show how PM2.5 affects the lung and the cardiovascular health. For example, PM2.5 exposure increases tissue and systemic inflammation, increases oxidative damage to DNA and cell membrane lipids, increases the risk for thrombosis," he said. "We also started to see cumulating evidence that PM2.5 lowers birth weight and impairs metabolic, cognitive and immune function."

These smaller particles can enter and deposit deep into your lungs, and cause the most health effects, said Stuart Batterman, professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan, who was not involved with the new WHO map.

"Those health effects can include aggravation or causation of asthma, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, hospitalizations and death," he added.

Where air quality is most alarming

Many of the areas lacking clean air are in the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean region, sub-Saharan countries and Southeast Asia, according to the map.

Nearly 90% of deaths linked to air pollution occur in low- and middle-income countries, and nearly two out of three occur in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions, according to the WHO.

"Many of the places that have high levels of pollution have very little monitoring data, and this includes countries highlighted in the report, including most of Africa and much of the developing world," Batterman said of the WHO map.

"Air pollution is causing millions of deaths per year, mostly but not exclusively in the developing world, due to very poorly controlled combustion as well as indoor air problems from the use of biomass fuels indoors, such as wood, dung and coal," he said.

Yet much of the developed world shows high levels of PM as well, according to the map. This includes major cities in Europe, such as Paris and London, and those in the United States, such as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

"The pollutants that affect most people in the United States include particulate matter, especially the smallest particles that enter deep into the lungs, and ozone. Ozone has tended to be a problem that has affected large portions of East Coast, Gulf and West Coast," Batterman said. "There's also major regions across the Midwest and elsewhere that have problems with ozone.

"Particulate matter pollution also has been an issue in many different regions," he added. "It is often a problem in some of the more urbanized areas, as well as industrialized areas of the country."

However, in order to move forward in efforts to improve air quality, identifying the type of pollutant in various regions is just as important as identifying the sources of pollution, Neira said.

"You would find out there is a big proportion coming from transit," Neira said. "Probably another part will be on the choices of energy we make every day, whether we use coal, fire, power plant or cleaner sources of energy. The way we heat our buildings, or refrigerate our buildings, on the household level. ... And for many countries around the world, there is still an issue of waste management."

The WHO recommends an assessment of sources of pollution. Once that is complete, that information can be shared with policymakers for change to happen.

"Governmental regulations and enforcement are absolutely essential to achieve better air quality. Air quality regulations will stimulate the development of cleaner technologies and force the use of pollution-control devices installed on the smokestacks and motor vehicles," Zhang said.

"The world needs cleaner and renewable energy. In the urban areas where vehicular traffic is the predominant source of local air pollution, efforts should be made to reduce the number of traveling vehicles by sharing rides, biking and using public transportation and electric vehicles." </s> A woman wearing a mask for protection against air pollution walks on a pedestrian overhead bridge in Beijing, China on Tuesday.

Thick, gray smog fell over Beijing on Tuesday, choking China’s capital in a haze that spurred authorities to cancel flights and close some highways in emergency measures to cut down on air pollution.

Beijing and much of industrial northern China are in the midst of a “red alert,” the highest level in China’s four-tiered pollution warning system. The alert has affected 460 million people, according to Greenpeace East Asia, which calculated that about 200 million people were living in areas that had experienced levels of air pollution more than 10 times above the guideline set by the World Health Organization(WHO).

Members of the public closely watch levels of PM 2.5, particles measuring 2.5 microns across that are easily inhaled and damage lung tissue. The WHO designates the safe level for the tiny, poisonous particles at 25 micrograms per cubic meter. On Tuesday morning, the PM 2.5 reading in Beijing climbed above 300. In many northern Chinese cities, the reading has exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic meter.

State media reported that 169 flights have been canceled at Beijing Capital International Airport, where visibility fell at one point to 300 meters. Sections of Beijing’s sixth ring road, the outermost highway encircling the city of more than 20 million people, were shut down in a bid to keep cars off the roads.

Authorities have even removed charcoal grills from restaurants and banned spray painting in parts of the city, state media reported.

People take videos of a flag-raising ceremony during smog at Tiananmen Square after a red alert was issued for heavy air pollution in Beijing on Tuesday.

Adding to a sense of crisis, local news in recent days reported that hospitals were encountering a boom in cases of children with respiratory problems and preparing teams of doctors to handle the surge of pollution-related cases. Photos showed waiting rooms crowded with parents carrying youngsters wearing face masks.

Outside the Capital Pediatrics Institute on Tuesday, parents voiced frustration about the toxic air for throat infections and the flu.

“He is coughing and breathing short, and always feeling sputum in his throat,” said Du Renxin, an IT worker, who was with his 2-year-old, who has had to make monthly visits to the doctor.

A man smokes as he rides in smog during polluted day in Beijing on Tuesday.

China has long faced some of the worst air pollution in the world, blamed on its reliance of coal for energy and factory production, as well as a surplus of older, less efficient cars on its roads. Beijing and other cities have tried to improve air quality by switching power plants from coal to natural gas and rolling out fleets of electric buses and taxis.

But despite its public commitment to reduce carbon emissions, China remains the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, with plans to build new factories and increase production. Government officials, facing rising energy prices earlier this year, lifted caps on production days for many mines.

Since the red alert went into effect, more than 700 companies stopped production in Beijing and traffic police were restricting drivers by monitoring their license plate numbers. Dozens of cities closed schools and took other emergency measures.

“The smog has serious repercussions on the lungs and the respiratory system, and it also influences the health of future generations, so under a red alert, it is safer to stay at home rather than go to school,” Li Jingren, a 15-year-old high school student in Beijing, said Monday.

In nearby Tianjin, authorities canceled 350 flights and closed all highways in the municipality. Public transportation services were increased as restrictions on cars were imposed.

Authorities in the northern province of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, ordered coal and cement plants to temporarily shut down or reduce production.

The alert is expected to end Wednesday. </s> India’s capital New Delhi is choking as pollution has reached its worst level in nearly two decades.

Visibility in the smog-choked city of over 17 million people was down to less than 80 metres earlier this week, with tens of thousands of residents sporting gas masks as they struggled to breathe.

City streets were shrouded in a thick haze of smoke, ash and other palpable pollutants and locals complained of breathlessness, watering of eyes and wheezing. Pollution levels recorded were almost 15 times the permissible limit.

Interminable queues snaked their way through bazaars selling face masks and air purifiers both of which were in short supply, unable to meet rising demand.

Doctors said spending a day outdoors in Delhi was akin to smoking a packet and a half of cigarettes and warned that if these conditions persisted, the atmosphere could turn carcinogenic.

On Monday levels of PM2.5 fine particles – linked to higher rates of respiratory ailments, lung cancer and heart disease – hovered at around 800, compared to normal levels of no more than 60.

PM2.5 levels between 301 and 500 are classified as “hazardous” in which everyone faces the risk of respiratory effects; those above 500 are beyond the official index, as air quality monitors in the city are unable to record beyond this limit.

“We are calling this a pollution epidemic” said K K Aggarwal , president of the Indian Medical Association . It was advising people to stay at home if possible and not venture out into the open.

Delhi’s air quality index generally worsens with the onset of winter, particularly after the annual Diwali festival of lights, when millions of people let off highly polluting crackers. But this year pollution has much more severe than usual, as farmers in neighbouring states burnt crop stubble after the paddy harvest ahead of planting wheat, trapping smoke and pollutants in cooling temperatures.

Fine dust, sand and cement particles from construction sites added to the pollution.

“It’s impossible to breathe normally” said housewife Shakuntla Devi, who plans on moving back to her village in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state until Delhi’s pollution crisis abates. “I feel constantly choked,” she added.

Children and the elderly are the worst affected and city hospitals were struggling to cope with the endless stream of patients suffering from respiratory ailments. “It’s like a war zone with hospital wards full of infants,” said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha.

On Monday Delhi’s government closed all city schools for three days, halted construction activity until the weekend and temporarily shut down a major power plant in a bid to contain the pollution.

City authorities also revoked licences of more than 200,000 diesel vehicles older than 15 years, believing them to be highly polluting, but to little avail, as the capital continued to be blanketed by noxious pollutants. </s> LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Doctors should take the lead in supporting political efforts to cut the pace of climate change and encouraging more people to see the problem as a crucial issue for public health, experts say.

With the 68th World Health Assembly coming up in May in Geneva, countries are poised to adopt the world’s first resolution on air pollution and health, in an effort to reduce premature deaths linked to air pollution.

Studies have found that air pollution can worsen a variety of health problems, from heart disease to strokes, said Carlos Dora, coordinator of public health and the environment at the World Health Organization (WHO).

That suggests doctors should take action to try to curb air pollution and climate change, he said.

“Climate change is a big factor (in determining peoples’) health in the short term and doctors should take notice,” he said.

In particular, “there are a number of challenges to the capacities of current health systems to respond to these health issues, so doctors should be prepared”, he said.

For a growing number of doctors, “health and climate change are no longer seen as different issues and are almost seen as synonymous because there is more evidence and data out there that link the two,” he said.

A survey of members of the American Thoracic Society, which represents 15,000 physicians and other medical professionals who work on respiratory disease and related issues, found that the majority were already seeing health effects in patients that they believe are linked to climate change.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they have seen an increase in chronic diseases in patients that are linked to air pollution, and 65 percent said they believed climate change was directly relevant to patient care, according to the survey, conducted by the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University and published in the February edition of the journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

“There is more pressure for the health sectors to prepare themselves on how they can help the population in dealing with the diseases related to air pollution,” Dora said.

Dora said the resolution that WHO is working on would encourage health systems to have a more proactive response in dealing with health issues related to climate change, for instance by sharing health data about levels and sources of air pollution with other countries and prioritizing ways to curb emissions.

Health care providers should reach out and work with other health sectors in other countries to tackle these issues because working on a global scale could help find and implement solutions more quickly, the resolution suggests.

The resolution is currently being negotiated and is expected to be adopted in May at the assembly.

This is not the first time that health and climate experts are encouraging doctors to see health and climate as related issues and to advocate for action on climate change.

A group of military and medical experts published an article in the British Medical Journal in 2008 urging doctors to take a leading role in the highlighting the dangers of climate change, which could lead global security threats and health problems from worsening allergies to injuries from more frequent weather-related disasters.

Today, six of the top 10 polluted cities in the world are in India, with New Delhi topping the list for particulate matter in the air over a year, according to data from WHO. New Delhi’s annual average concentration of particulate matter registered 153 micrograms per cubic meter, with 25 micrograms per cubic meter considered a safe limit by WHO.

Dora said more doctors in India and China, also well-known for its poor air quality, should step up to help tackle climate change and its health impacts in their cities.

“In general, doctors [in India and China] are not very engaged,” he said. But “India is working on getting the doctor’s engagement in climate change responses and preparedness for what could happen in the future.”

Dora said he is optimistic the expected new international resolution on health and climate change could improve preparedness to deal with climate change.

“This resolution will provide the health sector with the equipment, tools, knowledge and capacity to respond to climate-related health issues in their area, while drawing upon resources and ideas from other players,” he said. “There’s still a lot the health systems can do, though, to adapt to climate change.” </s> At this time of the year, citizens of Tehran are accustomed to a thick curtain of fog that falls across the city, veiling everything from the 435 metre-tall Milad tower to the nearby Alborz mountains.

This week, however, the blanket of smog smothering the Iranian capital has been blamed for a string of deaths and prompted unprecedented emergency measures by the city’s authorities.

Habib Kashani, a member of Tehran’s municipal council, said on Tuesday that pollution in Tehran had led to the death of 412 citizens in the past 23 days, according to the state news agency, Irna.

City authorities announced that all schools would be closed on Wednesday.

The concentration of ultra-fine airborne particles (known as PM2.5) reached more than 150 this week, setting a new record. These particles of less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter can penetrate the lungs and pass into the bloodstream and have been linked to increased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.

Irna reported that on four of the past six days, air quality reached dangerous levels for people suffering from respiratory diseases, and on two days it was dangerous for everyone.

PM2.5 levels are seen as the best measure of the impact of air pollution on health. The new World Health Organisation database of worldwide air pollution measures, released in May, put the Iranian city of Zabol, on the eastern border with Afghanistan, as the world’s most polluted city, based on PM2.5.



Pollution is a perennial problem in Tehran, which is surrounded by mountains and has little wind to disperse the smog. Millions of cars throng the city’s congested streets, and locally refined petrol has also been blamed as a key polluting factor.

The issue dominated newspaper front pages in Tehran on Tuesday. Ebtekar daily published a large picture of a smog-cloaked Tehran, carrying the headline “My city has been lost”, and called for a reduction in the number of cars.



“Every day 3m inner city commutes by the metro and 4m such journeys by taxi have not resolved the capital’s air pollution crisis,” it said. According to Ebtekar, at least 1.25m obsolete cars were still in use in Tehran and 60% of cars in the city normally carry just one person.

The reformist daily Etemaad published a black column on its front page saying that “We are all to blame”. It said Tehran was suffocating because “we [the media] are not able to hold the authorities accountable”, “you are not switching off your cars” and “they [officials] are only capable of closing schools”.

The celebrated film-maker Dariush Mehrjui told Isna news agency that he had moved out of Tehran because of its pollution. “I can’t breathe in Tehran, simple as that. Everyone is fleeing Tehran ... everyone is choking, look at cancer rates. Who can live [in Tehran] under these circumstances?” </s> BEIJING (AP) — Thick, gray smog fell over Beijing on Tuesday, choking China’s capital in a haze that spurred authorities to cancel flights and close some highways in emergency measures to cut down on air pollution.

Beijing and much of industrial northern China are in the midst of a “red alert,” the highest level in China’s four-tiered pollution warning system. The red alert affected 460 million people, according to Greenpeace East Asia, which calculated that about 200 million people were living in areas that had experienced levels of air pollution more than 10 times above the guideline set by the World Health Organization.

Members of the public closely watch levels of PM2.5, particles measuring 2.5 microns across that are easily inhaled and damage lung tissue. The World Health Organization designates the safe level for the tiny, poisonous particles at 25 micrograms per cubic meter. On Tuesday morning, the PM2.5 reading in Beijing climbed above 300. In many northern Chinese cities, the reading has exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic meter.

State media reported that 169 flights have been canceled at Beijing Capital International Airport, where visibility fell at one point to 300 meters (984 feet). Sections of Beijing’s sixth ring road, the outermost highway encircling the city of more than 20 million people, were shut down in a bid to keep cars off the roads.

Authorities have even removed charcoal grills from restaurants and banned spray painting in parts of the city, state media reported.

China has long faced some of the worst air pollution in the world, blamed on its reliance of coal for energy and factory production, as well as a surplus of older, less efficient cars on its roads. Beijing and other cities have tried to improve air quality by switching power plants from coal to natural gas and rolling out fleets of electric buses and taxis.

But despite its public commitment to reduce carbon emissions, China remains the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, with plans to build new factories and increase production. Government officials, facing rising energy prices earlier this year, lifted caps on production days for many mines.

Since the red alert went into effect, more than 700 companies stopped production in Beijing and traffic police were restricting drivers by monitoring their license plate numbers. Dozens of cities closed schools and took other emergency measures.

“The smog has serious repercussions on the lungs and the respiratory system, and it also influences the health of future generations, so under a red alert, it is safer to stay at home rather than go to school,” said Li Jingren, a 15-year-old high school student in Beijing, on Monday.

In nearby Tianjin, authorities canceled 350 flights and closed all highways in the municipality. Public transportation services were increased as restrictions on cars were imposed.

Authorities in the northern province of Hebei ordered coal and cement plants to temporarily shut down or reduce production. Elsewhere, hospitals prepared teams of doctors to handle an expected surge in cases of pollution-related illnesses.

“If you are tracking back to the first day of this episode, you can see that the layer of the smog (in Beijing) is moving slowly from the south to the urban area in Beijing and then to the north,” said Dong Liansai, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace in Beijing. “You can easily find the large deployment (of smog) in the regions south of Beijing.”

On Sunday, news websites said the number of children being taken to Beijing hospitals with breathing trouble soared. Photos showed waiting rooms crowded with parents carrying children who wore face masks.

The alert is expected to end Wednesday.

Associated Press researcher Liu Zheng contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> BEIJING: Hospital visits spiked, roads were closed and flights cancelled Monday as China choked under a vast cloud of toxic smog, with forecasters warning the worse was yet to come.

At least 23 cities in the world’s most populous country have issued red alerts for air pollution since Friday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

A host of emergency measures have been implemented to protect the public’s health from the smog, which is smothering almost a ninth of the entire country.

On Monday morning—the fourth day of the alert which is scheduled to end on Wednesday—Beijing’s air quality was better than feared, with PM 2.5 levels hovering around 200, according to data maintained by the US Embassy.

However, the figure remained eight times the World Health Organization’s daily recommended maximum exposure level to the microscopic particles that carry major health risks.

And the relatively low number was just a temporary reprieve, Beijing’s meteorological authority told Agence France-Presse, adding that the worst haze would hit the city Monday night and linger until Tuesday.

In neighboring Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, PM 2.5 levels stood as high as 701 at noon, with levels of larger PM 10 particles even higher.

In the port city of Tianjin, where readings for PM 2.5 climbed over 400 early in the morning, more than 180 flights had been cancelled and around 60 delayed since the alert began, according to national broadcaster CCTV.

Highways in the city were also closed, it said.

Several large hospitals in Tianjin saw a surge in the number of patients with respiratory diseases like asthma, according to the People’s Daily.

A red alert, issued when severe smog is expected to last more than 72 hours, is the highest of Beijing’s four-tiered, color-coded warning system.

The capital issued its first ever-red alert last year in December since the adoption of an emergency response program for air pollution in 2013, despite frequent bouts of serious smog.

Most of China’s smog is blamed on the burning of coal for electricity and heating, which spikes when demand peaks in winter.

The issue is a source of enduring public anger in China, where fast economic growth in recent decades has come at the cost of widespread environmental degradation. AFP
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that 92% of the world's population lives in air pollution levels surpassing the organization's limits.