<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Dhaka's air quality is ‘moderate’ on Friday morning&nbsp; as monsoon is fairly active in Bangladesh.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 53, the capital of Bangladesh ranked 51st in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality at 9:00 am today.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">South Africa’s Johannesburg, UAE’s Dubai, and Indonesia’s Jakarta occupied the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 184, 168, and 161, respectively.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’ while an AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. Meanwhile, an AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups.</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;">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 heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to 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>