/photo alliance, Amarjeet Kumar Singh, Anadolu Agency
New Delhi – To protect against dense smog, primary schools, factories and construction sites were closed today in New Delhi, India. The use of diesel vehicles has been restricted, Indian media report.
According to the “Central Air Pollution Control Authority”, the AQI air quality index exceeded 470, which is considered “seriously hazardous to health” and is more than 10 times higher than the global safety threshold. Thick clouds of smog enveloped the skyscrapers of the Indian capital.
Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Today, the metropolis once again led the IQAir List major cities with the worst air quality. IQAir is a Swiss air quality technology company. Lahore in Pakistan came second, followed by Bratislava/Slovakia and Kolkata/India.
According to a 2020 magazine in Science lancet published study (2022; DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30298-9) more than 1.6 million Indians died from air pollution in 2019.
The main causes of the extremely harmful annual November smog in the Indian capital are the fireworks of the multi-day Hindu festival of lights “Diwali” and the burning of harvested fields in rural areas around the metropolitan area which has about 31 million inhabitants.
Due to the geographical location in a low plain and the semi-arid climate, an inversion weather pattern forms here in winter, in which the warmer air from the upper layers presses like a lid on the air layers. cooler bottoms and almost completely prevents air exchange. . © kna/aerzteblatt.de
