<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Dhaka's air quality continued to be in the 'unhealthy' zone this morning (Thursday).</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 175 at 8:49 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked third in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India’s Delhi and Mumbai occupied the first and second spots, with AQI scores of 214 and 188.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’ while between 201–300 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;">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>