Capital stays smogged out, schools stay open
by negligible wind speed that has trapped the harmful air close to the surface and also reduced visibility drastically.
“Children’s airways, lungs and immune system are still developing, which makes them vulnerable to airway allergies, respiratory infections and irreversible lung damage,” said Anupam Sibal, senior paediatrician at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.
Krishan Chugh, director of paediatrics at the Gurgaonbased Fortis Memorial Research Institute said, “Pollution levels are toxic and my advice to parents is to keep younger children (ages 6 and below) home.”
Experts point out that in China, equally hit hard by vehicular and industrial pollution, a red alert is sounded and classes are suspended if pollution levels cross a certain threshold and remain unchanged for three consecutive days.
On Wednesday, multiple monitoring agencies in Delhi recorded the highly polluting and dangerous PM2.5 and PM10 at over 10 times the safe limit across the city-state during the day.
Health experts say these tiny particles can pass through the body’s natural sieve, go deep into the airways and lungs and even enter the bloodstream, causing inflammation, heart disease, chronic lung disease and cancers, among others. CONT’D ON P6 CP, Khan Market may become no-vehicle zones soon >>P5