Hong Kong ‘serious’ air pollution alerts issued; conditions expected to persist for several days
- Air pollution levels reach ‘serious’, the highest alert level, as Hong Kong hit by heat and light winds
- Air quality health index at highest level at 7 out of 18 stations and ‘very high’, the next down, at the 11 remaining stations
Air pollution in some parts of Hong Kong reached “serious”, the highest health risk level, on Monday afternoon and environmental authorities warned they expected the conditions to persist for a few days.
The air quality health index (AQHI) was recorded as “serious” at seven out of 18 monitoring stations operated by the Environmental Protection Department across the city at about 5pm.
The top levels were recorded in Central and Western, Southern, Eastern, Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tong, Tseung Kwan O and Causeway Bay. “Very high”, the second highest point on a five-tier scale, was recorded at the 11 other stations.
“The air pollution levels are expected to remain higher during the next couple of days,” the department said.
It said Monday’s weather was fine and very hot, with light to moderate northerly winds, under the influence of a dry continental airstream.
But officials explained the weather had led to a decrease in air quality because the conditions were not suited to the dispersal of pollution.
The department added that the strong sunshine would also lead to the formation of ozone and fine particulates in the Pearl River Delta region.
“According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the weather will remain very hot with weak winds over the coast of Guangdong in the next few days,” it said.
The department said pollution levels would remain higher than normal until the wind picked up.
Officials added the conditions were expected to persist until Sunday.
The department warned that children, the elderly and people with heart or respiratory illnesses should reduce physical exertion and outdoor activities to a minimum or avoid them altogether when the AQHI was at “very serious” or “high” levels.
Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu added that people with chronic cardiopulmonary diseases and people who worked outdoors in places close to heavy vehicle traffic should take care on days with high levels of air pollution.
“Even healthy people taking part in strenuous exercise in a heavily polluted area may exert a large amount of stress on their respiratory and circulatory systems, which could trigger hidden conditions they are not aware of,” he said.
Leung suggested that at-risk people should avoid or reduce the time spent in high pollution areas, especially if they were doing strenuous physical work.
