Air pollution in Thailand’s Bangkok forced the closure of over 350 colleges on Friday, the highest amount since 2020, affecting thousands of students. According to air quality track IQAir, the town was ranked as the seventh-most poisoned major city in the world.
The level of PM2.5 substances, which are cancer-causing microparticles little enough to enter the bloodstream through the breathing, reached 108 grams per cubic metre on Friday, well above the World Health Organisation’s recommended 24-hour common coverage of 15, according to an AFP media report.
Annual air pollutants, caused by a mixture of warmer, stagnant autumn air, soot from crop grass burning, and car fumes, has long been a problem in Thailand and many other countries in the region, reported AFP.
In a information shared on its established LINE group, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced that 352 colleges across 31 districts had been closed as a result of air pollution.
Anutin Charnvirakul, the interior minister, has imposed a moratorium on stubble burning, putting those concerned in danger of facing legal action. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the prime minister, is now speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. He also called for tougher measures to combat pollutants, including limiting development in the money and requesting assistance from neighboring nations.
Neighbouring Vietnam and Cambodia’s biggest cities also ranked in IQAir’s leading 10 most-polluted big cities worldwide on Friday, with Ho Chi Minh City reaching following and Phnom Penh five. However, Cambodia’s environment ministry spokesman Khvay Atitya said that the air quality in the country was within safe levels, according to their own standards.
” Other countries have their own standards. Cambodia has our own standard to determine the air quality”, he told reporters, adding that authorities had not issued any emergency measures.
