Delhi’s air quality turns severe, to deteriorate in coming days   

The pollution levels in the national capital shot up on Wednesday and mounted to severe category, prompting the concerned authorities to advise people to avoid outdoor physical activities and wear masks.

The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi has plunged into the severe category with a count of 404 in the early hours of December 23. Noida is even worse with the PM 10 count at 582 and PM 2.5 count of 511, much higher than Delhi. Before this, Delhi"s air quality had reached the "severe" zone on December 5, when the overall AQI reading of the city was recorded 404.

Jahangirpuri, Patparganj, and Anand Vihar areas of the national capital have the most noxious air on December 23.

The PM 10 count is at 435 in the severe category and is only expected to deteriorate in the coming days of the week. According to the reports, it will cross the 500-mark in the following couple of days, going up to the 522-mark. The PM 2.5 count is also in the very poor category at 247 and will worsen to cross the 300-mark in the coming days.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

As per Safar India, AQI is forecasted to further deteriorate in Delhi to the higher end of the very poor category by Wednesday and Thursday and quite a few regions may even experience severe AQI for a shorter time period, especially during the early morning.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientists warned that the forecast does not show any significant improvement in wind speed till December 26, which means that the pollution levels are also expected to be on a rise. The temperature is also forecasted to dip and reach around 4 degrees Celsius in the next two days.