KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — The Education Ministry today ordered schools in three states and the federal territories to close for a day tomorrow as the air quality worsened due to the haze.

The areas affected are the whole of Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur and the districts of Sri Aman and Kota Samarahan in Sarawak, where the air pollutant index (API) recorded unhealthy levels.

“The Education Ministry of Malaysia (KPM) would like to inform that based on the continuous observation throughout the country via API  today, it was found that few states and areas have shown unhealthy and very unhealthy readings,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

“Therefore, KPM would like to inform that all schools in Selangor, the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Negeri Sembilan, Sri Aman in Kuching and Samarahan in Sarawak must be closed on 28 September 2015 (Monday),” the ministry added in the statement.

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The haze reading in Shah Alam reached a very unhealthy level with an API of 281, with many parts of the peninsula also registering deteriorating levels.

Port Klang also recorded a bad API at 252.

As of 1pm today, the API in Kuala Selangor registered 168, Seremban recorded 152, Tanjung Malim 147, Port Dickson 131 and Jerantut 122, all falling under the unhealthy category of the API.

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An API reading of 0 to 50 indicates good air quality; 51 to 100, moderate; 101 to 200, unhealthy; 201 to 300, very unhealthy and 300 and above, hazardous.

Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali took to his Facebook earlier today, urging the Education Ministry to shut down schools in Shah Alam and Klang after API readings in the areas breached 200 this morning.