Hong Kong Warns Public to Avoid Outdoors as Pollution Soars

By Natasha Khan

Photographer: Alex Ogle/AFP/Getty Images

The sun rises through thick smog over Hong Kong on Oct. 3, 2014. Air quality in Hong... Read More

Hong Kong’s government said air pollution reached the highest level on its gauge at more than half of its monitoring stations, as light winds in the city failed to disperse pollutants.
The pollution index reached 10+ at monitors in Central, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, the city’s main business and entertainment districts, at 5:00 p.m. local time, according to the Environmental Protection Department. Other general stations recorded the highest or second-highest levels of pollution severity. The index scales from 1 to 10+, which is marked as “serious.”
“Higher than normal levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulates have been recorded in the territory since this morning,” the government said in a statement. “The light wind also hinders the effective dispersion of air pollutants and promotes the formation of nitrogen dioxide at street level.”
Air quality in Hong Kong normally worsens in the winter months as pollutants get swept in from China, adding to the smog generated by the city’s vehicles, ships and power stations. The government plans to introduce low-emission zones and has offered subsidies for
the replacement of older, more pollutive vehicles.
A reading of 10+, indicated with a black warning sign, triggers a government advisory for the general public to “reduce to the minimum the time of their stay outdoors, especially in areas with heavy traffic.”

Weekend Improvement

Air quality will improve over the weekend when a relatively humid easterly airstream is expected to affect the coastal areas of the nearby Chinese province of Guangdong, the EPD said.
Pollution levels showed slight improvement last year, with nitrogen dioxide at all monitoring stations falling after government subsidies spurred the installation of catalytic converters in vehicles, environment monitoring group Clean Air Network Ltd. said Jan. 8. Outdoor pollution can cause lung cancer, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a World Health Organization agency.