Yangon air quality has no imminent danger after they took a measure for the Air Quality Index (AQI) between February 1 and 9, according to Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH).
“The AQI level is in yellow stage and some measured the AQI in downtown. The AQI level was high as the place they measured the AQI is full with exhaust fumes from cars. The measurement took by the DMH is covered the whole Yangon. We mainly measured the air quality. Yangon’s air quality is not polluted than that of Bangkok. Air quality is changed time to time. The measurement of the DMH is for one day only,” said Dr Kyaw Moe Oo from the DMH.
The AQI values measured by the DMH are 72 in February 1, 61 in February 2, 72 in February 3, 80 in February 4, 61 in February 5, 82 in February 6, 66 in February 7, 93 in February 8 and 97 in February 9 respectively.
According to the measurement on the morning of February 9, the AQI in Yangon reached 192, the highest in history. Yangon’s AQI is higher than those in Bangkok and Beijing.
The AQI is calculated from the concentrations of the pollutants: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ground level ozone and particulate matter.
There are six colour codes for the AQI: Green (0-50) is good, yellow (51-100) is moderate, orange (101-150) is unhealthy for sensitive groups, red (151-200) is unhealthy, purple (201-300) is very unhealthy and maroon (301-500) is hazardous.
