Lahore's air quality shows minor improvement

Lahore's ongoing struggle with heavy smog continues as the city's air quality index (AQI) reached 299 on Wednesday, just one point shy of the "hazardous" category.

The pollution level places the city as the second most polluted major city in the world in terms of air quality.

The concentration of PM2.5 particles — the fine particulate matter in Lahore's air that causes the most damage to health — was 44.8 times higher than the World Health Organisation's (WHO) annual air quality guideline value. 

The Punjab capital has hovered around the 300 mark, the threshold considered hazardous for human health for nearly 10 days, according to the Swiss air quality monitor, IQAir, after almost a month of registering dangerously high levels of pollutants in the atmosphere.

Punjab, home to more than half of the country's 240 million people, has been shrouded by a thick blanket of smog for nearly two months, which also saw multiple instances of massive spikes in the AQI, marking "unprecedented" levels of pollution in Lahore and Multan.

This prompted the provincial government to adopt lockdown-like measures in the worst smog-hit areas, including weeks-long school closures, a ban on entry into public spaces, and time restrictions on restaurants and markets earlier this month.

The efforts have helped the authorities to bring down smog levels to some extent, as per the air quality monitors' data.

Today, the AQI in Multan, one of the most affected cities was recorded at 562, reflecting a massive improvement from three weeks ago when pollution in the city climbed to a dangerously high AQI value of 1,571.

The concentration of PM2.5 particles was 71.3 times higher than the levels considered healthy for humans.

After Multan and Lahore, Peshawar was the third most polluted city in the country, with an AQI value of 245 around 9am, and a PM2.5 particle concentration 34 times higher than WHO guidelines value.

Meanwhile, Karachi had the fifth-worst air quality in the country, and the world, with an AQI value of 188 and 21.6 times higher concentration of the particulate matter.

Every winter, a mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by seasonal crop burn-off by farmers, blanket parts of Punjab, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.

According to a University of Chicago study, high levels of pollution have already reduced life expectancy in Lahore, a city of 14 million inhabitants, by 7.5 years.

Breathing toxic air has catastrophic health consequences, with the WHO warning that strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases can be triggered by prolonged exposure.

Similar hazardous conditions have hit India's capital New Delhi, where air pollution has been exacerbated.

Experts believe that modernising car fleets, reviewing farming methods, and making the transition to renewable energies are key to overcoming the smog that paralyzes millions of Pakistanis and Indians every year.