LAHORE, Nov 15: Pakistan's most populated province of Punjab on Friday extended school closures in smog-hit major cities by a week, with thousands hospitalised as the country battles record air pollution.
The province, home to more than half of Pakistan's 240 million people, last week closed all schools until November 17 in major cities enveloped by smog.
Air quality in Lahore was deemed "hazardous", according to data by IQAir, with the concentration of deadly PM2.5 pollutants -- fine particulate matter in the air that causes most damage to health -- around 30 times the level deemed acceptable by the World Health Organisation.
"Schools will remain closed for another week due to the hazardous air quality. Institutes including universities would switch to online classes to ensure the safety of students," Marriyum Aurangzeb, Punjab's environment minister, told a news conference.
Breathing the toxic air has catastrophic health consequences, with the WHO saying strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases can be triggered by prolonged exposure. —AFP
