A province in Pakistan declared a health emergency due to increasing and imposed a shutdown in two major cities. For weeks, smog – due to air pollution has choked Punjab, causing various respiratory illnesses in almost 2 million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze. According to government officials, a health emergency was announced to combat the growing crisis.
A senior provincial minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, declared the emergency at a press conference on Friday evening. According to Aurangzeb, all leaves for medical staff in government hospitals have been canceled, all education institutions – schools and colleges are shut until further notice, and restaurants will be closing at 4 p.n.
While takeaway would be available up until 8 p.m. Authorities have imposed a lockdown in the cities of Multan and Lahore and have ordered all construction work in those two places to be halted with immediate effect.
"Smog is currently a national disaster,” Aurangzeb said. “It will not all be over in a month or a year. We will evaluate the situation after three days and then announce a further strategy.
” AQI in Lahore crossed 600 Average air quality index readings in parts of Lahore, a city of 11 million, exceeded 600 on Friday. Anything over 300 is considered hazardous to health. According to experts, smog – is a dangerous byproduct of large numbers of vehicles, construction, and industrial work as well as burning crops at the start of the winter whe.