Poor air quality recorded as COVID-19 cases increase

Pollution reached hazardous levels in Pakistan’s two mega cities, as both were included among the top five most-polluted cities in the world in an index published on Saturday. Air quality of the eastern city of Lahore was recorded as 316 in an index with a maximum reading of 500. Air in Lahore, the country’s second-largest city after Karachi, had a high concentration of poisonous particulate matter (PM), at levels of 2.5 of 270 microgrammes per cubic metre. The city temporarily replaced New Delhi as the most polluted in the world, while Karachi was listed fifth in the index by IQAir.  White smog has engulfed cities of the central Punjab province,including the provincial capital Lahore, home to more than 11 million people.