A man wearing a face mask on a heavily polluted day walks along the Bund in front of the financial district of Pudong in Shanghai on December 15, 2015.
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The air pollution will begin rolling in from about Saturday evening and last until Tuesday, with visibility in the worst affected areas such as Beijing likely to fall to less than one kms (0.6 miles), it said.
According to China’s government guidelines, a “red alert” is triggered when the index passes 200, and people are cautioned to stay indoors when the index exceeds 300.
The government has promised to crack down on often hazardous levels of pollution around the country.
Beijing’s neighboring city of Tianjin also aims to remove about half of all cars from the road in the event of a red alert.
Although the four-tier smog warning system was launched two years ago, Beijing had not issued a red alert until last week, drawing accusations that it was ignoring serious bouts of smog to avoid the economic costs.
Beijing issued its first red alert on December 7, declaring emergency pollution measures following scathing public criticism of the city’s weak response to December’s first round of smog, when pollution skyrocketed to some of the worst levels this year.
In winter, an increase in coal-burning for heating in north China and still weather often exacerbate other forms of pollution and create periods of heavy smog lasting days.
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The Beijing Meteorological Service said in a statement vehicle use would be severely restricted, and that fireworks and outdoor barbecues would be banned. The smog returned after a brief respite, which led to authorities issuing the red alert and shutting schools and bringing in traffic controls. Schools will close and residents advised to avoid outdoor activities.
