Air quality in Male’ sees improvement compared to yesterday

The national weather forecasting body, Maldives Metrological Service (Met Office) reported an improvement in air quality in Male’ area on Monday after the air quality monitoring system in Vilimale’ recorded air quality at a dangerous level on Sunday.

Met Office attributed the poor air quality to the direction of the wind, adding poor air quality is expected over the next 24 hours if there are strong winds.

According to Met Office, poor air quality is experienced during the onset of the northeast monsoon (dry season), which was recently declared by the authority. In this regard, they detailed that air quality will shift based on the speed of the wind, adding they are unable to specify an exact date when air quality will completely improve at present.

According to the air quality system at the Maldives National University (MNU)’s Centre for Maritime Studies campus in Vilimale’, the air quality in the Male’ area stood at 156 on the air quality index on Sunday; a dangerous level posing health risks.

However, air quality in Male’ area stands at 50 on the air quality index as of present according to IQAir, a real-time air-quality reading app.

The drop in air quality prompted Health Protection Agency (HPA) to advise the public to exercise precautionary measures.

In this regard, they had advised to wear masks if going outside and close doors and windows to minimize polluted air from entering homes. HPA has also advised individuals at risk, such as persons with lung disease, children, and pregnant women, to minimize time spent outside.

Poor air quality has become extremely common in the Maldives recently and is often attributed to polluted air carried from India.