Shawdesh Desk:

Dhaka’s air quality continued to be in ‘moderate’ zone on Tuesday morning.

With an air quality index score of 54 at 9:05am, Dhaka ranked 60th on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.

Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa, Iraq’s Baghdad, and Egypt’s Cairo City, occupied the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 174, 163 and 156 respectively.

An AQI score between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with acceptable air quality. However, there may be a health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.

AQI score between 150 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘very unhealthy’, and a reading of 301 and above is considered ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risks to residents.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants — particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.

Dhaka has long grappled with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in the winter and improves during the monsoon.

Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide.

As per the World Health Organisation, air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year.