KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — More schools in haze-affected areas in the country will be closed tomorrow as air quality remains at unhealthy levels, Putrajaya said today.

In a statement today, the education ministry announced that all schools in Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Kuching and Samarahan in Sarawak, and Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau in Sabah, will remain closed tomorrow.

In addition, schools in Muar, Ledang and Segamat in Johor, have also been instructed to close on Tuesday.

It was reported yesterday that in Sabah, only schools in Tawau were closed today.

“Based on the ministry’s monitoring at 1pm today, the API (Air Pollution Index) level at the affected areas remained unhealthy. Other areas have also shown an increase in the index,” it said in the statement.

“The closure will affect 1,909,842 students in 3,029 schools nationwide,” the ministry said.

School closures are automatically triggered when the API breaches 200 or the “very unhealthy” mark.