Delhi AQI slips to ‘very poor’ category, no respite likely in coming days

According to the Centre's forecast, the city's air quality will continue to remain in the 'very poor' bracket.

Delhi and NCR remained engulfed in a thick haze of smog as the pollution levels in the national capital slipped to ‘very poor’ category after two days of slight improvement.

AQI.in has termed the air in NCR as bad as smoking over 9.8 cigarettes a day for Gurugram residents, and 9.2 for those in Delhi.(Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times)

While the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi on Thursday morning was 278, the pollution levels breached into ‘very poor’ category again, with the AQI reaching 311. On Wednesday, Delhi had recorded an AQI of 202, under the ‘poor’ category.

According to the Centre's forecast, the city's air quality will continue to remain in the 'very poor' bracket for the subsequent six days. The prominent pollutant in the air continues to be PM2.5, heavily contributing to the alarming AQI levels.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring cities, including Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad recorded AQI at 'poor' levels, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.

The met department has predicted that the wind speed is expected to gradually increase, reaching up to 15 kmph from the northwest direction in the afternoon, before decreasing to below 10 kmph during the evening and night on November 6.

Meanwhile, in Haryana, the 24-hour average air quality in Faridabad hovered around 218, while Manesar showed and AQI reading of 269, both under the ‘poor’ category according to CPCB data.

Noida and Greater Noida recorded 257 and 228 on the scale, and Ghaziabad noted 266, all under ‘poor’ category.

According to CPCB, and AQI score between 0-50 is considered ‘Good’ and has minimal impact, 51-100 is ‘satisfactory’ and causes minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people.

An AQI between 100-200 is ‘moderate’ and causes breathing discomfort to people with diseases in their lungs, asthma or heart diseases, 201-300 is ‘poor’ and causes breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure, 301-400 is ‘very poor’ and causes respiratory illness on prolonged exposure, and 401-500 is ‘severe’ which affects healthy people and impacts those with existing diseases.