Pollution in Beijing raised a red flag when it surpassed the recommended levels of the World Health Organization for four consecutive days, driving inspection teams to the city and other near areas.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center recorded a PM2.5 concentration at a whopping 198 micrograms per cubic meter, eight times more than the WHO-recommended 25 micrograms per cubic meter.
The excessive pollution alerted China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, prompting the agency to send 12 groups to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. They were tasked to check whether the local government units have employed the appropriate measures to ease the air pollution and whether the production of cement, coal, glass panel and steel are being monitored and regulated.
They have also sent out memos compelling the local authorities to improve their prediction of air quality and immediately inform the public about information they acquire so they could take steps accordingly, Bloomberg reports.
The country's capital has let their air pollution alert stay at orange, forcing some industries to restrict their production to a certain level to avoid exacerbating the problem of pollution. It has also led to the banning of outdoor grilling and the usage of fireworks as the level of smog is expected to remain dangerous until Monday morning.
The Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences published a report of the 40 least hospitable international cities and because of pollution, Shanghai and Beijing earned their spots in the list. The latter preceded Moscow in the bottom half.
Xinhua has reported that the smog will be present until the morning of Monday in various regions aside from the capital, Beijing. Some areas of Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi and Tianjin should expect it, as well. The report mentioned China's meteorological agency, which predicts that the amount of smog will lessen come Thursday due to winds brought by the cold front.
