Schools in New Delhi will shut down for a week, as the Indian capital’s pollution control body warned of a health emergency due to smog.
“Starting Monday, schools are being shut so that children don’t have to breathe polluted air,” Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters on Saturday.
New Delhi is ranked as one of the world’s most polluted cities, with factory and vehicle emissions and smoke from agricultural fires polluting the air.
On Saturday, levels of PM 2.5 particles — the smallest and most harmful, which can enter the bloodstream — topped 300 on the air quality index.
That is 20 times the maximum daily limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
Construction activities will also be halted for four days starting Sunday, Kejriwal said, in an effort to cup down dust from sites.
Delhi’s government has long vowed to improve the city’s air quality.
But despite a Supreme Court ban, burning agricultural waste in Delhi’s neighboring states continues, further exacerbating air pollution in the megacity of 20 million people.
A 2020 report by Swiss organization IQAir found that 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities were in India, with Delhi ranked the most polluted capital globally.
The same year, the Lancet said 1.67 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in India in 2019, including almost 17,500 in Delhi.
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