Delhi AQI: The pollution level in the national capital Delhi remains ‘dangerous’ for the seventh consecutive day. Even on Tuesday morning, Delhi’s average AQI was recorded at 488, which is the worst level of AQI this season. At the same time, AQI has reached 500 in many areas including Anand Vihar of Delhi.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), on Tuesday morning 500 in Alipore, 500 in Ashok Vihar, 500 in Bawana, 496 in DTU, 496 in Dwarka, 500 in Dilshad Garden, 386 in ITO, 500 in Jahangirpuri, 500 in Mundka, 500 AQI was recorded in Wazirpur, 494 in RK Puram, 499 in Okhla, 491 in Narela, 500 in Vivek Vihar.
GRAP 4 is also implemented in Delhi, under which the government is trying to reduce the incidence of pollution. However, despite many efforts, there has been no improvement in AQI at present.
School will run online
Meanwhile, Delhi government announced that classes 10th and 12th will be online from Tuesday. Chief Minister Atishi “Physical classes for classes 10th and 12th will be postponed from tomorrow and studies will be online until further orders,” it said in a post on X on Monday. The Directorate of Education said in an order, “Government and non-government schools of all classes including 10th and 12th under the Directorate of Education, MCD, NDMC and DCB will run in online mode till further orders.”
Delhi University issued this order
Delhi University announced that it will conduct online classes till November 23 amid deteriorating air quality levels in the city. Keeping in view the interest of the students of the colleges and departments of Delhi University, it has been decided that the classes will be conducted in online medium till Saturday, November 23, 2024, the university said in an order. Whereas offline classes will start again from Monday 25 November 2024. However, the schedule of examination and interview will remain unchanged.
Doctors gave this advice
Looking at Delhi’s air quality, doctors have expressed concern about its health risks and warned that toxic air can harm not only health-vulnerable groups but also healthy individuals. Doctors have advised people to limit outdoor activities, ensure adequate fluids in the body and use air purifiers with HEPA filters to reduce solid particle levels indoors.
Dr. Rajat Sharma, resident doctor of community medicine at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, said, at this level of pollution, wearing an N95 mask is not an option but a necessity. Even healthy people can fall victim to respiratory diseases and suffer from other diseases.
He said N95 masks provide better protection than surgical masks or cloth masks, because surgical or cloth masks often do not fit the face and cannot adequately block particles. Ujjwal Parakh, senior doctor of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said, people need to be extremely cautious. Everyone should avoid outdoor activities as much as possible and if they have to go out, they should use a mask to reduce the effects of air pollution.
He also advised to keep windows and doors closed and use HEPA filter air purifier. Dr. Parakh said that drinking fluids is also important to ensure adequate amount of water in the body. People suffering from lung diseases should take extra precautions and take their medicines regularly. He told that N95 and N99 masks are effective in preventing solid particles (PM 2.5 and PM 10).
However, they cannot filter out harmful gases like ozone, nitrogen dioxide or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). He advised to change the mask regularly and said that using the mask for a long time reduces its filtering ability.
Increase in sales of air purifiers and masks
With air pollution continuously increasing to dangerous levels in Delhi, the sale of air purifiers and masks has also increased. Due to increasing pollution, Delhiites are facing difficulty in breathing, due to which the demand for air purifiers and masks has increased. Vijendra Mohan, owner of Indirapuram-based dealership Air Expert India, said that after crossing the ‘severe’ level of air pollution, there has been a huge increase in the sales of his air purifiers. He said, earlier we used to sell about 20 purifiers per day, but now this number has doubled to 40 per day.