Thailand’s 55 provinces suffer from unsafe fine dust levels

Illustrative photo (Photo: thaipbsworld.com)

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation on March 8 reported that 55 provinces in the country saw fine dust levels above the safe threshold of 50 microgrammes per cubic metre (µg/m³).

Except for the country’s southern region, other regions suffered from unsafe levels of fine dust. Specifically, PM 2.5 levels were 65-137 µg/m³ in the North, 48-170 µg/m³ in the Northeast, 50-98 µg/m³in the Central Plain and the West, 59-86 µg/m³ in the East and 17-33 µg/m³ in the South.

Bangkok and neighbouring localities witnessed fine dust levels of 55-131 µg/m³. Responding to the increasing air pollution, Bangkok authorities early this week called on people to wear facial masks when going out.

According to the website www.iqair.com, at 9:26 am on March 8, Chiang Mai city in Thailand ranked 5th among major cities across the world with the worst air quality because of its Air Quality Index (AQI) of 181. Above Chiang Mai are the Iraqi capital Baghdad with an AQI of 230, the Pakistani city of Lahore with an AQI of 224, Dubai of the United Arab Emirates with an AQI of 193 and Delhi of India had an AQI of 185./.