Whatever the causes of the smog, by one ranking Delhi was not just the most polluted city in the world, but “nearly five times as bad as the second most polluted city, Dhaka,” in Bangladesh next door, as Shashi Tharoor, a leader of the opposition in Parliament and best-selling author, posted on X.

Delhi's air quality continued to remain in 'very poor' category with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 346 on Saturday as compared to 331 a day earlier. No improvement in air quality is expected over the next few days.

Delhi’s air quality remains in the very poor category with an AQI of 316. Several areas reported AQI above 300, prompting concerns from residents about health impacts and the need for government action to address pollution.

Unhealthy

The 24-hour average AQI at 4 pm was slightly lower than Sunday's 285. Since October 30, air quality had been in the ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ categories.

Delhi has received a respite from toxic air in the first two days of December as the city's AQI remained in the "poor" category on Monday, recording a reading of 280

However, the city’s air quality remains suboptimal, as an AQI between 201 and 300 is still considered harmful to sensitive groups. The absence of dense fog has allowed sunlight to reach the surface, aiding the scattering of pollutants as the mixing height stayed relatively high.

National capital sees marginal improvement from 'very poor' levels, but monitoring stations reveal alarming hotspots exceeding AQI 300