Dhaka's air ‘very unhealthy’ today

Air pollution still remains one of the top-most environmental challenges for Bangladesh, it's capital city has been topped on the list of 110 cities with the worst air quality this morning. Dhaka’s air was classified as ‘very unhealthy’ with an AQI score of 259 at 8:09 am.

Meantime, China’s Wuhan, Vietnam’s Hanoi and India’s Delhi occupied the second, third and fourth spots on the list with AQI scores of 242, 226 and 191, respectively.

According to statistics, an AQI between 151 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', while 201–300 is 'very unhealthy', and 301+ is 'hazardous', posing severe health risks.

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.

Dhaka has long been struggling with air pollution issues. The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.

WHO reports that air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, basically due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.