Summary:
The levels surged as people violated the Supreme Court order and burst firecrackers before and after the designated two-hour window. The levels on Thursday afternoon came down from their peak, with the gauge reading a “very unhealthy” 244 as of 2.30pm. Air pollution levels skyrocketed in New Delhi and left the national capital shrouded in toxic smog as millions of people set off firecrackers on Wednesday evening during Diwali The air quality index, or AQI, hit 980 at 4.30am on Thursday, according to website AirVisual, which monitors air pollution around the world. Lahore in Pakistan was at second place with AQI at 273 as of 8am local time. Readings below 50 are considered safe, while anything above 300 is considered hazardous.The air quality in the morning was just about as bad as it was in 2017 a day after Diwali, when levels exceeded 1,000, roughly ten times worse than the air pollution in Beijing..