Lahore continues to have the worst air quality, with 609 readings.

The Index recorded a 609 air quality reading. With an air quality index of 408 AQI, Delhi, the capital of India, continues to rank second in the world.

Pakistan’s cities with the worst air quality are Islamabad at number five, Rawalpindi at number six, Peshawar at number three, Haripur at number four, and Karachi at number seven.

“Polluted eastern winds, blowing from India at four kilometres per hour, have direction towards Lahore,” stated Jahangir Anwar, secretary of the Environment Protection Agency.

Anwar stated, “This polluted air has contributed to Lahore’s smog and given the AQI reading an extraordinary boost.”

He pleaded with the farmers to refrain from burning the leftover produce.

Along with wearing masks and taking precautions, he also recommended folks to close their windows and doors.

“We have never reached a level of 1,000,” a top environmental protection official told AFP earlier in the interview.

The fog and pollution from low-grade diesel emissions, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning, and winter chilling have been engulfing Lahore for days.

In a report, AFP reported that Lahore’s air pollution levels on Saturday were more than 80 times higher than what the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers tolerable.

Before falling to about 300 in the morning, the level of dangerous PM2.5 pollutants—fine particulate matter in the air that causes the most harm to health—peaked at 1,067. The WHO considers anything over 10 to be harmful.