LAHORE:As average AQI reached 450, foggy, cloudy and hazy weather continued to prevail in the city here on Sunday while Met office predicted light to moderate rain on Monday (today).
Lahore, with the rise in the AQI, is ranked top in the world’s top ten most polluted cities. As per IQAir, the present average AQI was hazardous and PM2.5 concentration was currently 56.8 times the World Health Organisation annual PM2.5 guideline value.
Due to fog motorways were also closed at various points due to low visibility in many cities of Punjab province. Motorway M2 from Lahore to Kot Momin, M3 from Lahore to Samundri and Sialkot Motorway M11 was closed due to fog, in addition, Motorway M4 from Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad was also closed.
According to the Motorway Police, safe travel times in foggy season were 10 am to 6 pm, there was also fog in Sundar, Manga Mandi, Phool Nagar and Pattoki on the national highway, the visibility on the national highway was zero to 100 meters.
The fog also partially affected the flight schedule at Lahore Airport as a result several flights going abroad from Lahore were delayed. According to airport sources, flights from Lahore to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi were delayed and a PIA flight from Lahore to Canada was also delayed by more than 7 hours.
They said common symptoms of superflu included cold, flu, cough, high fever and difficulty breathing. There was also an alarming increase in pneumonia cases among children and the elderly while people with weak immune systems were more affected by superflu.
Health experts said that children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases were at high risk, so they need special precautions. Medical experts have strictly instructed citizens to use masks regularly and get the flu vaccine. Met officials said westerly wave was affecting western and upper parts of the country.
