MUMBAI: Mumbai's air quality remained in the 'very poor' category on Tuesday suggesting that people, already wading through the receding Omicron wave, better stay indoors for at least a day more. Meteorology experts said the air would get better by Wednesday evening.
"The impact of the dust storms in Maharashtra (Mumbai and Pune) has reduced drastically and is expected to become negligible by tomorrow," a bulletin by SAFAR has suggested. On Monday, the city had attained its highest recorded pollution ever with AQI showing the 503-mark.
Several Mumbaikars had reported throat, chest and nasal congestion after the city's air quality index (AQI) crossed the 500-mark, the most severe indicator for any air inside a human habitation. The AQI is the concentration of a carcinogenic 2.5 particulate matter in the air. According to SAFAR, very poor category air triggers respiratory problems.
The AQI of Mumbai though improved significantly to ‘very poor’ from beyond 'severe' on Tuesday, it is likely to improve further to ‘lower end of very poor’ or ‘poor’ for the next two days, the bulletin stated further.
Meanwhile, Mazgaon continued to show the worst AQI with over 502 PM2.5 concentration mark, the SAFAR monitor suggested. Except for Worli, the AQI in Chembur, Colaba, Bhandup, Malad, Andheri, BKC and Borivali remained 'very poor.'
Dust storms coupled with moisture, local emissions and cold air had forced smoke and dust to hang in the air for almost a day. The storm initiated in the UAE instead of settling received triggers in Afghanistan and Balochistan due to warmer temperatures and reached India's western borders and coast, affecting the air quality.
AQI of Ahmedabad indicated ‘poor’ and is likely to improve further to ‘moderate’ for the next two days. AQI of Pune indicated ‘poor’ air quality on Tuesday and is likely to remain ‘poor’ for the next two days due to prevailing cold wave impact reducing ventilation, it added.
