The air pollution as a result of the habitual directional shift of the air with the season change from Hulhangu (Southwest monsoon) to Iruvai (Northeast monsoon), has significantly worsened as of today.
Websites that indicate the quality of air shows that the air pollution in the Male’ region as measured by the Air Quality Index (AQI) is 71. This is a considerably low quality of air.
Air quality is considered low when between an AQI of 50 and 99. This level of pollution will affect the health of those in fragile conditions.
If breathing problems or throat pain is detected, it is advised to reduce the amount of time spent outside.
Once the air pollution exceeds this range, severe health problems will be faced.
It is deemed most dangerous to be outdoors once the air pollution exceeds an AQI of 250.
Met Office (Maldives Meteorological Service) says that the air flow from eastern Maldives has caused the air in northern and central Maldives to become very polluted with visibility significantly declined as a result.
They also stated that while visibility is clear to over 10km on a clear day, it has reduced to 5km during the past 24 hours, specially within central Maldives.
“Direction and speed of wind, along with rainfall, plays an important role in the fluctuation of visibility," says the Met Office.
This time last year, the air was polluted over a wide area of the country with a 60% decrease in visibility.
The air pollution in the Northern India’s Himalayan area affected Maldives’ air last year as well. Northern India is currently facing severe air pollution, impeding transportation.
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