The level of pollution is exploding in New Delhi, India, where the level of PM2.5 microparticles, the most dangerous, is 60 times higher than the threshold set by the WHO.
The residents of New Delhi are suffocating. This Monday, November 18, air pollution reached new heights in the Indian capital, at a level 60 times higher than the maximum threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to measurements carried out by the company IQAir, the concentration of PM2.5 microparticles was measured at 907 micrograms per cubic meter of air in certain points in the city. These carcinogenic pollutants are considered the most dangerous because of their ability to diffuse directly into the blood, through the lungs.
Sunday evening, the authorities therefore triggered level 4 of their alert plan. Most schools remained closed on Monday, with establishments favoring distance learning.
This should make it possible to reduce traffic, as well as the use of teleworking, which is strongly encouraged. Traffic restrictions have also been tightened.
WHO data shows that air pollution can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, but also lung cancer. Last June, a study revealed that air pollution is responsible for 11.5% of deaths in Delhi. This represents 12,000 deaths per year.
The city shrouded in thick smog
The Indian capital and its metropolitan area are constantly at the top of the ranking of the most polluted cities in the world in winter. The city is constantly suffocating under toxic fumes from factories or road traffic and, at the end of the year, those from seasonal agricultural burning worsen the pollution.
Dangerous particles are “fixed” by falling temperatures and weak winds during the cold season. In this context, the air quickly becomes unbreathable and the city finds itself enveloped in thick, gray smog.
The scale of the phenomenon is such that in October, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that access to clean air was a fundamental right, ordering central and state governments to act.