MIRI, Aug 22 — The air quality in Kuala Baram, which is battling forest and peat-soil fires, worsened this evening, with the Air Pollutants Index (API) reading at 411 at 4pm compared to 404 at 9am.

Maj Ismail Mahedin of the Civil Defence Force in the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee secretariat said the API at the monitoring station at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Baram 2 was at the very unhealthy level of 223, up from the 204 this morning.

"The API at the monitoring station in Miri was at a moderate 95 (from 93 this morning),” he said in a statement this evening.

Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Baram 2 and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Chung Hua Tudan were closed today due to the worsening haze.

An API reading of zero to 50 indicates that the air quality is good; 51 to 100, moderate; 101 to 200, unhealthy; 201 to 300, very unhealthy and higher than 300, hazardous. — Bernama