KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 – Port Klang in Selangor and Seri Manjung in Perak registered Air Pollutant Index (API) at the hazardous levels of 495 and 307 respectively at 8 am today as the haze affecting the country moved northwards.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry reported on its portal that four places in Selangor, namely Petaling Jaya, Banting, Shah Alam and Kuala Selangor, recorded API at very unhealthy levels of more than 200.
The air pollution level is categorised as hazardous when the reading is 301 or more; very unhealthy at 201 to 300; unhealthy at 101 to 200; moderate at 51 to 100 and good at zero to 50.
The API in Muar, where an emergency was declared last Sunday, dropped to the unhealthy level of 163 today.
Seventeen areas had API at the unhealthy level, 24 at the moderate level and two, Tawau and Sandakan in Sabah, at the good level.
The places with API at the unhealthy level were Jalan Tasek, Ipoh (142), SK Jalan Pegoh, Ipoh (186), Kampung Air Putih, Taiping (146) and Tanjung Malim (176), all in Perak; USM (121), Perai (120) and Seberang Jaya (132), all in Penang; Batu Muda (200) and Cheras (186) in Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya (197).
Other areas were Nilai (176), Seremban (161) and Port Dickson (167) in Negeri Sembilan; Bukit Rambai (159) and Bandaraya Melaka (134) in Melaka; Kemaman in Terengganu (121) and Jerantut in Pahang (136).
In IPOH, Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir advised people in areas with a high API to take precautionary measures to safeguard their health.
“The people are advised to cooperate by not engaging in open burning and report open burning to the Fire & Rescue Department (at 999) or the Department of Environment (1-800-88-2727) or the Perak DoE Control Room (05-2542744),” he said in a statement.
Zambry also advised people suffering from cough, running nose and watery eyes to seek medical treatment.
“People in the high-risk category, including children, the elderly and the ailing, are advised to restrict outdoor activities. The others should cut down on outdoor sports and recreational activities,” he said.
Zambry said motorcyclists and people working outside buildings as well as those in the high-risk category should wear face masks.
In GEORGE TOWN, the DoE website reported the API in Penang having deteriorated to the unhealthy level.
It reported the API at 132 in Seberang Jaya 2, Perai, at 7 am compared with 79 recorded at the same time yesterday.
The API at Universiti Sains Malaysia on the island had increased to 121 from the 70 recorded yesterday while in Perai on the mainland it was 118.
– BERNAMA
