<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Dhaka’s air quality continued to be in the 'unhealthy’ zone this morning.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 160 at 9:04am, Dhaka ranked seventh in the list of cities around the world with the worst air quality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thailand’s Chiang Mai, Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Delhi occupied the first three spots, with AQI scores of 253, 227 and 214, respectively.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An AQI between 150 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.</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;">With the advent of winter, Dhaka’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction work, rundown roads, brick kilns, and other sources. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>