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China Closes Schools In Beijing Over Smog Red Alert

Although Beijing has in recent years seen smog at much worse levels than Tuesday’s, the latest bout of pollution was the first to trigger a red alert under a two-year-old system that requires a forecast at the outset of at least 72 hours of consecutive high pollution.

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The alert was active from 7.00 a.m. (local time) on Tuesday till noon on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

Outdoor construction sites are ordered to close and some industrial plants told to cease or reduce operations.

Engineer Wang Shaoang drives an electric auto, which are not subject to the odd-even rule, an attempt by the government to promote the use of cleaner vehicles.

Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection warned that severe pollution would cloak the Chinese capital for several days, starting Tuesday morning.

A grey haze descended on Tuesday on the city of around 21.5 million people, with levels hitting above 300 micrograms per cubic metre, according to the USA embassy, which issues independent readings.

Beijing, China has issued a red alert warning on Monday a day after the city was blanketed by thick smog. Before, there were only a few cars on the road but now, look, there are more and more.

The measures imposed for the alert were good, he said, “but we need much more radical moves than this”.

According to the World Health Organization, recommended maximum exposure is 25.

The alert was upgraded to red on Monday evening -Red reflects a forecast of three days of PM2.5 – airborne particulate matter 2.5 microns and smaller – levels above 200 micrograms per cubic meter.

“I also can’t drive today because of the restrictions”, wrote one parent on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. “We wanted to develop, and now we pay the price”, Beijing office worker Cao Yong said during a break from work.

“My baby suffers from coughing, cold, bronchitis, this is related to air pollution”, one mom surnamed Yao said the children’s hospital, amid the sound of crying babies.

Chinese social media commentators also pointed to the fact that no red alert was issued when the readings touched 634 a week ago.

While many Beijing residents took their concerns for the smog and recent red alert to the internet, for not issuing an earlier alert for last weeks exceeding hazardous and heavy smog.

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The China red smog alert may not immediately curb the country’s alarming air pollution, but in the long term, it could play a big role in solving the world’s carbon crisis. “We are taking active measures to cope with climate change”, she said while replying to a question on the impact of Beijing’s pollution problem on the Paris summit.

Image Worker at Beijing Children's Hospital