As of this early morning, many places in Ho Chi Minh City were covered in fog with air pollution indexes at very unhealthy levels.
By 10 a.m. the AQI values in District 1, Binh Thanh District and Thu Duc city read at 142 or red-warning level via Air Visual apps and PAM Air system.
In recent days, a thick plume of fog and air pollution has inundated the capital city of Hanoi and the Northern provinces and cities, especially in the early morning, causing discomfort for residents.
Monitoring results from the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment showed that the air pollution index in many places rose to unprecedented levels of 151-200 and above or very unhealthy levels.
According to a new report released by AirVisual, the capital city of Hanoi ranked fourth among the worst air-polluted cities in the world, following New Delhi (India), Lahore and Karachi (Pakistan).
Many local monitoring stations have recorded AQI values of 200 and above in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Vinh Phuc and so on for the past several days.
Some environmental experts said that the reason was due to weather changes and high humidity leading to condensed fine dust emission and smoke from vehicle exhaust.
Poor air quality along with the weather changes have affected people's health as well as become a favorable environment for the development of many viruses and bacteria that cause diseases, especially contagious diseases.
Recently, many Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City -bases hospitals such as Bach Mai, Central Pediatrics, Thanh Nhan, Sait Paul, Children No.1, Children No.2, Tropical Diseases, Thong Nhat and so on have recorded a huge number of patients for examination and treatment.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health reported that the number of hospitalized children with respiratory diseases has tended to rise due to weather changes and the impact of environmental pollution.
Therefore, residents are recommended to proactively prevent diseases by wearing masks regularly, washing hands with clean water and soaps or hand sanitizers; and keeping their bodies warm on these days.
