2 lakh people fall sick in Thailand as air pollution worsens

Nearly 200,000 people in Thailand have been admitted to hospital because of air pollution this week with Bangkok being blanketed by an emission haze.

The sky in the Thai capital, which is of the world’s most popular tourist hotspots, has turned yellow-grey with vehicle fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from stubble burning on farms adding to the pollution, according to local media reports.

More than 1.3 million people have fallen sick in the country this year due to air pollution, with nearly 200,000 admitted to hospital this week alone, according to figures released by the public health ministry.

Children and pregnant women have been advised to stay indoors and people have been asked to wear N95 anti-pollution masks.

The public health ministry said 50 districts in Bangkok recorded unsafe levels of the most dangerous PM2.5 particles that can enter the bloodstream.

PM2.5 levels have been above safe limits for most of Bangkok for the past three days, according to the government’s pollution control department.

The situation was worse in the northern city of Chiang Mai, in an agricultural region where farmers burn crop stubble at this time of year.