<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The air quality of densely populated Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka continued to be in the 'very unhealthy' zone this morning.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 267 at 8:30 am today (January 30, 2023), Dhaka ranked first in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India’s Delhi and Vietnam’s Hanoi occupied the second and third spots on the list, with AQI scores of 190 and 188, respectively.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants — Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>