<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 194 at 9:15 am today (April 10, 2023), Dhaka ranked 4th in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan’s Lahore, India’s Delhi, and Thailand’s Chiang Mai, occupied the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 238, 231 and 204, respectively.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered “unhealthy” while between 201 and 300 is “very unhealthy”, and 301–400 is “hazardous”, posing severe health risks to residents.</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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>