He didn’t give a time frame, but said the government also plans to reduce the consumption of coal, limit the use of cars, cut industrial pollution and control dust from construction sites.
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China’s environment ministry said pollutants were reduced by a third in Beijing during this week’s temporary restrictions to reduce heavy smog, which included taking half the city’s cars off the roads. The problem is being made yet worse by high humidity and low wind.
The World Health Organization cautions against 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 at concentrations higher than 25.
“There are enterprises that close while you check them and open soon after you leave”, he said.
The measures were being lifted from midday Thursday, according to a social media post by Beijing’s environmental protection bureau.
A cold wave will likely clear up smog in Beijing later today after the city issued warnings this weekend for children and the elderly to stay inside as pollution levels rose again in the wake of its first-ever red pollution alert earlier this month.
This unprecedented strategy resulted from intense public criticism which was focused on last week’s equally deadly haze where the city did not carry out the necessary warnings to protect its citizens.
Counts of PM2.5 – harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs – reached well over 600 micrograms per cubic metre last week, according to the U.S. embassy, which issues independent readings, and were regularly above 300 in recent days.
Much of this air pollution apparently originates from neighboring regions where their pollution levels remained at a hazardous rate, specifically the southern region of Hebei province.
In Beijing and some other heavily polluted northern cities, the rise in condom orders surpassed those in cities with cleaner air.
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NASA satellite images even captured this deadly, massive haze covering northeastern China and was seen from outer space.
