The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have sought cooperation from both the public and private sectors in and around Bangkok by allowing their employees to work from home until this weekend, as air pollution has deteriorated to a health-threatening level.
The BMA’s Line Alert service at 6pm today showed PM2.5 reaching the Red level in 31 out of the 50 districts in the capital.
The Air Pollution Mitigation Centre reported excessive PM2.5 in the atmosphere of 55 provinces.
• In northern provinces, PM2.5 levels range from 18 to 83.2µg/m³
• In central and western provinces, PM2.5 ranges from 51.5 to 110.1µg/m³
• In eastern provinces it’s from 39.2 to 81.3µg/m³
• In north-eastern provinces, 22.5 to73.7µg/m³
• In Bangkok and its vicinity, PM2.5 ranges from 58.3 to 105µg/m³
• In southern provinces, its between from 14.6 and 37.8µg/m³
Permanent secretary of natural resources and environment, Jatuporn Buruspat, said most areas in and around Bangkok are likely to see pollution increase in the next couple of days.
To protect people’s health, he said he has coordinated with the BMA and neighbouring provinces to increase measures to reduce air pollution, and with the Public Health Ministry for preparations to cope with the health impacts.
