LAHORE: The capital of Punjab, Lahore, has been declared as the most polluted city in the world as the air quality index (AQI) was 289 between 9am and 5pm on Monday. As per the international monitoring bodies, the score currently stands at 397.
The industrial area of Lahore surpassed 500, while the steel industry recorded around 400. Raiwind, a relatively green neighbourhood, scored 403 at AQI. According to AQI, the current average score is 34.8 times higher than the limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“At 397 AQI, [or particulate matter (PM) 2.5], the pollution concentration is 34.8 times higher than the annual air quality value set by the World Health Organisation. This is, what environmentalists call, hazardous with it getting ‘extremely hazardous’ at individual points,” said the organisation’s representative.
The city where Covid originated from, Wuhan, stood at second place among the most polluted cities. On the other hand, New Delhi, which was once holding the top spot, did relatively better than Lahore, scoring less than half of Lahore’s AQI with a score of 187.