Air pollution in India's capital Delhi has reached extremely serious levels, choking residents and engulfing the city in thick smog.
Monitors recorded pollution levels of 1,500 at 3:00 p.m. IST (10:30 a.m. BST), according to technology company IQAir – 15 times the level the World Health Organization (WHO) considers satisfactory for breathing.
The toxic air has disrupted air services and has already prompted authorities to close schools and ban construction work in the city.
This comes just weeks after Lahore in neighboring Pakistan also recorded pollution levels above 1,000.
And experts are warning that the situation could worsen in Delhi in the coming days, saying tougher measures may be needed to tackle the city's pollution problem.
According to the WHO, air with an air quality index (AQI) above 300 is considered hazardous to health.
India's pollution control authority has classified Delhi's air quality as “severe plus”, after the city surpassed 450 in its measurements on Monday morning.
Besides closing schools and banning construction work, the city also banned the entry of non-essential trucks into Delhi and asked all offices to ask 50% of their staff to work from home.
Last week, the government banned all activities involving the use of coal and firewood, as well as the use of diesel generators for non-emergency services.
Every year, Delhi, northern Indian states and parts of Pakistan face hazardous air during the winter months from October to January due to falling temperatures, smoke, dust , low wind speed, vehicle emissions and stubble burning.
And every year, the government imposes measures to combat pollution during these months.
Yet Delhi's pollution problem has not gone away.
On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi said the entire north India was experiencing a “medical emergency” due to uncontrolled stubble burning across the country, especially in the neighboring states of Haryana, of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
She accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of failing to take steps to combat the practice, despite the problem intensifying over the past five years.
The BJP, in turn, blamed Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for not being able to control pollution in the city.
Meanwhile, people in Delhi continue to run out of air.
“Woke up with itchy and sore throat…even two air purifiers don't make AQI breathable inside. Kids breathe in a gas chamber,” one user wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Another user called for a “mass peaceful protest in the streets.” “The air we breathe is fatally toxic,” he writes.
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