Air quality in Mumbai and Pune has plunged to the ‘poor’ and ‘moderate’ categories, with both particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) crossing their maximum permissible limits in the two cities. The data was released by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s (IITM) System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
With Covid-19 cases rising, health experts have alerted citizens to avoid exposure to pollutants as much as possible with sufficient masking measures. They observed that even short-term exposure to poor air could predispose a person to the infection.