KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — As of 3pm today, three areas in Peninsula Malaysia — Banting, Nilai and Port Klang — recorded Air Pollution Index (API) readings at an unhealthy level.

According to the Department of Environment's website today, the API readings at the three places were more than 100, with the reading in Port Klang, Selangor at 136, Banting, Selangor (113) and Nilai, Negeri Sembilan (108).

The readings in 32 other places were moderate, including Bintulu, Sarawak (53); Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan (65) and Muar, Johor (77).

API readings of between 0-50 are considered good, moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-300) and dangerous (exceeding 301).

Members of the public can check the API status in their areas by surfing the portal at http://apims.doe.gov.my — Bernama