The hazy skies over Malaysia remain mostly unchanged despite pessimistic predictions by the Environment Department earlier this week.

Air quality at 51 areas nationwide showed improvements as at 11am today with eight recording good air quality compared to six at 5pm Wednesday.

As at 11am this morning, the number of "moderate" areas in Malaysia was 43, one area less than at 5pm yesterday.

According to the Air Pollutant Index (API), a "moderate" area has an index of between 51 to 100

Previsouly it was predicted that air quality in Malaysia would edge towards unhealthy levels and visibility worsen.

Bakar Arang in Sungai Petani, Kedah ended the day yesterday as the first "unhealthy" area since the haze materialised last week.

The area recorded an API of 104 at 5pm yesterday. The situation has improved since then, as Bakar Arang boasts a moderate reading of 87 as of this morning.

The only other area to have an index of above 80 is Seberang Jaya 2 (81) while all other areas recorded indexes between 40 and the mid-70s.

The northern part of the peninsula was still worst-hit by the haze as Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak mostly sport indexes of the mid to high 60s.

Clearer visibility

Visibilities have also held steady, with most areas in Malaysia enjoying views of above 10 km.

Penang, Perak and Sarawak have the lowest visibilities, with Prai in Penang at the bottom of the list with four to six kilometer visibility.

The three states were experiencing visibilities of between four to eight kilometers.

Further south, however, the island-state of Singapore is enjoying "good" levels of air quality, with Pollutant Standard Index (PSI) readings of between 18 to 35 overall.

Visibility on the island is above 10km, according to Malaysian Meteorological Services.

Meanwhile Bernama quoted a Meteorological Department spokesperson as saying that 142 hot spots were detected in Sumatra, Indonesia, as at noon today.

The spokesman said the situation in the Malaysian peninsula was not expected to change much because of the southwesterly wind from the direction of Sumatra.