Heavy smog back to choke northern China over three-day New Year holiday
Residents in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and Shandong and Henan provinces warned latest heavy air pollution will last until Thursday
Residents across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area – China’s most urbanised region – and in Shandong and Henan provinces are living under the threat of a new round of heavy air pollution, which started on December 29 and is forecast to last until Thursday, the Ministry of Environmental Protection reported.
On Saturday, the reading of PM 2.5 – airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter that are small enough to enter lungs and most harmful to health – rose from the heavily polluted level of 200 micrograms per cubic metre to more than 400 micrograms per cubic metre in most areas of Beijing, according to figures from the US embassy in Beijing.