Air quality in three Sarawak areas worsens
The air quality in three areas in Sarawak, namely Samarahan, Sri Aman and Kuching continued to deteriorate this morning.
According to the Department of Environment’s website, the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in Samarahan was 175 as at 11am today, compared to 171 one hour earlier.
Sri Aman recorded API reading of 151 and Kuching, 149 as at 11am from 148 and 146 respectively, at 10am.
Meanwhile, 20 locations across the country recorded moderate air quality while 29 other locations had good air quality.
The areas with moderate air quality include Sarikei (with API reading of 97) Bintulu (95) in Sarawak, and Kota Tinggi (76) and Larkin Lama (75) in Johor.
API readings of 0-50 denote good air quality, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy) and 300 and above (hazardous).
The public can visit http://apims.doe.gov.my to know the API readings in their respective areas.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the haze in Singapore reached the unhealthy level today with the three-hour pollutant standard index (PSI) reading at 137 as at 1pm, the highest so far this year, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA).
The haze is caused by the smoke from Sumatra in Indonesia being blown to the island by the prevailing south-southwesterly winds.
The 24-hr PSI was between 101 and 111. A 24-hour PSI reading of above 100 indicates unhealthy air quality.
NEA said the prevailing winds are forecast to blow from the south or south-west, and hazy conditions can still be expected.
- Bernama
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