Delhi's air quality between 'poor' and 'very poor' categories

New Delhi, Nov 13: Delhi's air quality on Tuesday oscillated between "poor" and "very poor" categories despite several preventive measures taken by the authorities.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) showed PM 10 level at 286 and PM 2.5 level at 373, in 'poor' and 'very poor' categories respectively at the Lodhi Road.

The national capital's air quality had turned severe on Monday evening as the pollution level increased again due to unfavourable meteorological conditions such as low wind speed.

Nineteen areas in Delhi recorded severe air quality while 18 areas showed very poor air quality, according to the CPCB.

Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Greater Noida and Noida recorded severe air quality while Gurgaon showed improvement in air quality, as it stood in moderate category, according to the CPCB.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

Satellite images by SAFAR showed moderate stubble burning fire count that is contributing to 7 per cent pollution at PM2.5 in Delhi.

Authorities have attributed the dip in air quality to unfavourable weather conditions like low wind speed.The air quality severely deteriorated on the day after Diwali on Thursday and continued to remain in severe category before showing slight improvement on Saturday.

Since then it has been oscillating between very poor and severe.