Delhi air quality 'very poor' category as city shivers in fog, winter

Delhiites woke up witnessing a very foggy morning on Sunday as AQI remained in 'very poor' category

Delhi's air was 'very poor' Sunday morning when the temperature dipped below 10 degrees Celsius and a fog engulfed the city that been choking in severe pollution for months now. 

The Air Quality Index (AQI) was 301 at 8 am, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality forecast agency SAFAR. Readings below 50 are considered safe, 51 and 100 is 'satisfactory' and anything above 300 is considered hazardous or 'severe'.

Air quality slipped to 'very poor' category on Friday, days after it was 'satisfactory' after heavy rains lashed the national capital last weekend. On Saturday, Delhi's overall AQI stood at 339, in 'very poor' category.

Delhi was this morning the world's eighth most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 175, according to IQAir.

Preliminary data from a month-long experiment has shown that indoor air pollution levels were nearly half of the outdoor levels in Delhi-NCR during November-December so far.

India is failing in efforts to improve its toxic air quality, with the number of smog-plagued cities increasing since the launch of a national program to tackle the issue, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

A total of 132 cities now have pollution levels deemed below national standards, from 102 cities when the National Clean Air Programme began in 2019, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.