<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Dhaka's air quality has turned ‘moderate’ again.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With an air quality index (AQI) score of 63 at 9.05am, the metropolis on Thursday ranked 45th in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan’s Lahore, China’s Beijing and the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 197, 168, and 161, respectively.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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;">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.</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>