Beijing remains under yellow alert for pollution spike

Beijing remains under a yellow alert for heavy air pollution on Friday. The pollution slightly eased in the morning but increased again in the afternoon, according to a forecast from the meteorological department.

Beijing Daily reported that the air quality will see an improvement by Sunday.

On Sunday, northern regions of the city will experience improved diffusion conditions due to the influence of cold air. At the same time, the central and southern areas will see improvements later in the evening, though short periods of moderate or higher pollution may still occur.

From Monday to Wednesday next week, most parts of the region will maintain relatively good air quality levels.

Atmospheric diffusion conditions began to worsen on Tuesday. Beijing's PM2.5 concentration increased due to unfavorable dispersion conditions and regional pollution effects.

As of 5 pm Thursday, Beijing had experienced 30 hours of mild pollution and one hour of moderate pollution, with a peak PM2.5 concentration of 117 micrograms per cubic meter.

Hu Jingnan, a researcher at the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said that compared to the previous evening, pollution in the central and southern parts of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region remained severe yesterday, with many cities at the junction of Hebei, Shandong and Henan provinces experiencing heavy pollution.

In response to this round of pollution, 37 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas had initiated regional emergency responses as of Thursday. Beijing activated a yellow alert, while Tianjin, 11 cities in Hebei, six cities in Shandong and the entire province of Henan issued orange alerts to address the heavy regional pollution.