Delhi air quality remains in the 'severe' category on New Year's Day

The air quality (AQI) in Delhi remained in the 'severe' category on Friday morning according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). The New Year morning has been wrapped with dense fog with the minimum temperature recorded at 1.1 degrees Celsius at the Safdarjung observatory in the national capital. As per SAFAR, the level of PM10 particles observed in the morning was 440.

Cold wave conditions continue to persist in Delhi with dense fog reducing the visibility in most parts of the national capital in the New Year morning. India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its daily bulletin issued on December 31 at 9.00 pm, said that cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are likely to persist in isolated places over Delhi during next 2 days.

IMD also said that dense to very dense fog is very likely in some pockets of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi during the next 2 days. Following the ongoing COVID-19 conditions, health experts have urged people to take extra precautions as respiratory diseases tend to worsen with a dip in temperature and a rise in pollution levels. An AQI between 0-50 is marked good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101- 200 is moderate, 201- 300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor and 401-500 is considered severe.