People need to protect their health as air quality drops

While air quality in Hanoi’s inner city remained mostly good and average in the last week of August, it did drop in some areas compared to previous weeks.

Pollution in inner of Hanoi. — VNA/VNS Photo

Results recorded by the Sub-department of Environmental Protection under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said on just one day this week, the air quality was poor.

The Tay Mo area had the best air quality index (AQI) during the past week.

Minh Khai, Pham Van Dong and Hang Dau areas had an AQI, between 51-100.

Particularly, Hang Dau area had two days – August 26 and 27, when the AQI index reached a poor level, 108.

During the night of August 26 and the morning of August 27, many areas in the city also had AQI at a low level, of which Hang Dau area was the highest with 132.

With a low AQI, sensitive people are more likely to experience health problems but people in normal health will be unlikely to notice any effects.

Explaining reasons why air quality in the last days of August tended to decrease, a spokesperson of the Environmental Protection Sub-department said that last week there was rain all over the capital city and the sky was cloudy with low temperature and windy.

This causes detrimental effects for the diffusion of pollutants, increasing the concentration of pollutants that accumulate in the near-ground atmosphere.

The sub-department recommends that people should limit burning of garbage and minimise cooking with honeycomb charcoal stoves. Garbage should be collected and disposed of according to regulations and people should not burn waste where they live.

In the suburbs, people need to limit burning of rubbish and agricultural by-products.

In addition, in order to protect their health, people should limit going outdoors and regularly wear masks that meet safety standards when going out. VNS