China drives away smog to ensure clear sky as Airforce One touched down

China's environment ministry had ordered the local authorities to lift the orange alert for air pollution saying that air quality had improved thanks to emergency measures.

Beijing, November 8: China has virtually driven away the smog hovering over the city in the last few days with emergency measures for US President Donald Trump who landed in Beijing on Wednesday.

Following the smoggy weather in the past few days Beijing today woke up to a beautiful sunny morning.

China's environment ministry had ordered the local authorities to lift the orange alert for air pollution saying that air quality had improved thanks to emergency measures.

It was clear blue sky when Trump's Airforce One touched down at the airport here this afternoon.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) previously forecast that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and nearby areas would see severe air pollution from November 4 to 8, prompting local governments to issue the orange alert - the second highest level - last week.

China has a four-tier colour-coded warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

But as authorities adopted a raft of emergency measures to meet the smog challenge, most of the areas experienced slight air pollution or even good air, state-run Xinhua news agency reported earlier.

The orange alert brings several measures, including restricting the use of vehicles, increasing pollution controls at construction sites, and temporarily restricting or stopping production activities of steel, cement and coal firms.

The emergency efforts reduced around 20 per cent of pollutants, effectively curbing the increasing PM 2.5 density and making the air quality better than forecast, Chai Fahe, an expert with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, told the official media.

Owing to increased emissions from heating sources and less wind air quality usually worsens in late autumn and winter in northern China.

PTI