KUCHING, Sept 10 ― The air quality in Sri Aman, Samarahan and Kuching districts improved slightly this morning ― going from “very unhealthy” to just “unhealthy”.
The hourly Air Pollutant Index (API) reading for Sri Aman district dipped from 201 at 8am to 192 at 11am while Samarahan district’s level dropped to 121 at 11am compared to 201 at 2pm yesterday.
The API reading for Kuching at 11am was 144 compared to 203 at 1am today.
The air quality in Sri Aman, Samarahan and Kuching districts had exceeded 200 over the past week.
The air quality in other districts of Sarawak remained moderate, below the API reading of 100 at the time of reporting.
The API reading of 100 to 200 is categorised as unhealthy while the reading of above 200 is categorised as very unhealthy.
The API reading above 300 is categorised as hazardous and above 500, a state of haze emergency.
Yesterday, the state Education Department ordered schools where the API exceeded 200 to close today, but the on-going Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination for Primary 6 pupils to proceed.
The department, however, reminded the schools and parents to take extra measures to protect the health and safety of the students.
It had also said the students must return home immediately after they had taken their examination.
The department had said the closure of schools was in accordance with a circular issued by the Ministry of Education on January 15 this year pertaining to the occurrence of haze.
