BEIJING, Feb 28 – The air quality in Beijing and nearby regions hit dangerous levels Thursday, China’s Xinhua news agency quoted Beijing’s environmental authorities as saying. Calm winds, temperature inversion, pollutants transformed from eastern and southern regions and large-scale dust from Inner Mongolia are behind the hazardous air pollution in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and east China’s Bohai Bay, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre said Thursday.
Readings for PM 2.5, or airborne particles measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter that can deeply penetrate the lungs, reached more than 400 microgrammes per cubic metre, or Level VI, which is considered “dangerous.”
Smog in southern Beijing reduced visibility to 900 metres earlier Thursday morning.
BERNAMA
