Begusarai in Bihar and Bhubaneswar in Odisha recorded the worst AQI in the country, at 401 and 382, respectively. Of the 10 cities with the worst air quality as of 1 pm, four were in Odisha, three in Bihar, and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.

In the national capital, Delhi, the 24-hour average AQI was 323, higher than Sunday’s AQI of 218 recorded at 4 pm, data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed. An AQI between 300 and 400 is said to be “very poor”, and according to the CPCB, can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure.

Delhi’s air quality had consistently languished in the ‘very poor’ category until Friday, 3 November, when it turned “severe” (AQI above 400) for the first time this season. It stayed in that category for a week.

The number of stubble burning incidents, a key factor behind the pollution at this time of the year, was recorded at 987 on 12 November in Punjab, down from the high of 3,230 recorded on 5 November. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh recorded 110 and 238 such incidents on 12 November.

The sharp increase in stubble burning incidents after 28 October has been instrumental in the worsening of the air quality in the region.

The Mint AQI tracker relies on the data released every hour by the CPCB, which in turn uses the data collected from several monitoring stations across the country. The AQI for a city is the average of the figure recorded at all stations in that city.

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Updated: 13 Nov 2023, 02:56 PM IST