Skip to main content

Air Pollution Chokes Thailand, 2 Lakh People Hospitalised In Past Week

By
Air Pollution Chokes Thailand, 2 Lakh People Hospitalised In Past Week

Children and pregnant women have been urged to stay indoors. (Representational)

Bangkok, Thailand:

Nearly 200,000 people in Thailand have been admitted to hospital because of air pollution this week, officials have said, with Bangkok shrouded in a harmful haze.

The Thai capital, home to an estimated 11 million people and one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, has been blanketed for days by an unpleasant yellow-grey mix of vehicle fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from agricultural burning.

More than 1.3 million people have fallen sick in the kingdom since the start of the year as a result of air pollution, with nearly 200,000 admitted to hospital this week alone, according to the public health ministry.

Kriangkrai Namthaisong, a doctor at the ministry, on Wednesday urged children and pregnant women to stay indoors.

Anyone going outside should wear a high-quality N95 anti-pollution mask, he added.

During another pollution peak in late January and early February, city authorities urged people to work from home.

A spokesman for Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt -- elected last year with promises to improve the city's environment -- said they would not hesitate to issue another similar order if the situation got worse.

Aekvarunyoo Amrapala told AFP that nurseries run by the city had set up special "no dust rooms" with air purifiers to protect young children, as well as checkpoints to monitor vehicle emissions.

The public health ministry said 50 districts in Bangkok on Wednesday recorded unsafe levels of the most dangerous PM2.5 particles -- so tiny they can enter the bloodstream -- while on Thursday they remained well above World Health Organization guidelines.

PM2.5 levels have been above safe limits for most of Bangkok for the past three days, according to the government's pollution control department.

The situation was worse in the northern city of Chiang Mai, in an agricultural region where farmers burn crop stubble at this time of year.

Around midday (0500 GMT), the popular tourist destination was ranked the third-most polluted city in the world by monitoring firm IQAir.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Featured Video Of The Day

Video: Bus Collides With Car, Crashes Into Church Wall In Kerala

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/AM4r20O https://ift.tt/rGCtHKi
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Salaries Of 12700 Punjab Teachers Tripled After Regularisation

By
Punjab government has tripled the salaries of 12,700 teachers, who were regularised recently. Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said the salaries of 12,700 teachers, who were regularised recently, have been increased by up to three times. In a statement here, Mr Mann said these teachers will be known as associate teachers and special inclusive teachers, adding that they will be governed by a 'Policy for Welfare of Adhoc, Contractual, Temporary Teachers (Nation Builders) and other employees in the School Education Department'. Based on their educational qualifications and primary conditions for entry into services, their emoluments have been fixed up to the completion of 58 years in service. Mr Mann said these teachers will be entitled to an increment of 5 per cent on their salaries every year. The chief minister said BA pass education providers (associate teachers) who were hitherto getting Rs 9,500 per month will now get Rs 20,500 as an emolum...
Post a Comment
Read more

California Homeless People Found Living In Deep Caves Stocked With Drugs

By
Homeless people were found living in riverside caves. In a clear example of California's homelessness crisis, authorities found caves along the Tuolumne River where people had been living. These 20-foot-deep underground dwellings, reached by makeshift stairs, were filled with makeshift furniture and personal belongings, revealing the desperate measures some take for shelter. Located near Modesto, the caves were cleared over the weekend by police and volunteers from local homeless outreach organizations. Authorities expressed concern about safety risks from unstable structures and potential flooding from the nearby river. "This particular area has been plagued by vagrancy and illegal camps, which have raised concerns due to the fact that these camps were actually caves dug into the riverbanks," the Modesto Police Department said in a statement. "During the operation on Saturday, a total of 7,600 lbs of trash, as well as two truckloads and a trailer of garbage, w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Republic Day Updates: Macron Chief Guest As Delhi Hosts Parade Amid Dense Fog

By
Adblock test (Why?) from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/yqj8XDV https://ift.tt/zHpGab4 via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more