The quality of air throughout the country improved today, compared to yesterday, following a bout of rain in several areas on the west coast of the peninsula.

The Department of Environment (DOE), in a statement, said the Air Pollution Index (API) reading at 7am today showed 28 stations had good air quality, 24 had moderate quality, and no stations recorded unhealthy air.

However, air quality was still unstable, according to satellite images issued by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) yesterday, which showed 155 hotspots in Sumatra, Indonesia.

The hotspots were the result of land clearing and jungle burning in Sumatra, which caused cross-border haze carried by south-west winds to the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, the statement said.

DOE was informed by the Meteorological Department that the hot and dry weather could continue into October.

As such, the quality of air throughout the country during this period would not be stable.

Members of the public have been advised not to carry out any open burning and to extinguish small fires, as well as report cases of open burning.

Such reports could be made to the Fire and Rescue Department at 999 and the Department of Environment’s toll-free line at 1-800-88-2727.

- Bernama