Pakistan: "Hazardous smog" in Karachi poses serious health risk, experts urge face masks

Karachi [Pakistan], November 8 : Karachi has been witnessing "hazardous smog" amid a significant drop in minimum temperature, posing serious health risks to people, particularly children, Dawn reported.

Health experts have urged the general public and vulnerable citizens to wear face masks to protect themselves from cold and boost immunity by eating nutritious food. The situation has worsened due to clouds of dust generated throughout the day from multiple under-construction sites across the city.

Speaking to Dawn, Chief Meteorologist Ameer Hyder Laghari explained that what Karachi is experiencing in the early mornings is not fog but "hazardous" smog a type of intense air pollution that reduces visibility and harms human health and the environment.

"In winters, the cold weather slows down the movement of air pollutants and the low wind speed fails to disperse them, leading to the build-up of smog. For fog to happen, we need high moisture content in the air that we don't have right now," he said, warning about the health impact of smog, especially on children.

Data from the Pakistan Meteorological Department showed that the minimum temperature dropped from 20 degrees Celsius on Monday, November 3, to 17 degrees Celsius on Friday, November 7. Relative humidity early morning was 17 per cent and 16 per cent in the evening on Friday.

On Friday, according to the Air Quality Index (AQI) report, Karachi was ranked the fourth most polluted city in the world, with the air quality declared "hazardous" to human health.

Health experts emphasised that taking precautions, particularly wearing face masks and avoiding unnecessary outdoor activity, is essential to reduce the risk of respiratory illnesses.

"But, this is hard to implement in case of children. There is no doubt that dust allergy has become a major problem in Karachi and children have been the worst hit. In recent weeks, we have been seeing a huge number of cases of chest infection, many of them with pneumonia requiring admission," said Ved Vaswani, associated with Burhani Hospital and Al-Mustafa Medical Centre, Dawn reported, adding that the situation had not improved yet.

Seconding his concerns, Abdul Ghafoor Shoro representing the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) said cases of chest infections in children had risen dramatically.

"Delayed medical intervention leads to pneumonia. Its symptoms include fever, severe coughing and difficulty in breathing," he said. He emphasised that junk food is harmful and stressed the need to eat healthy food. He added that children should be protected from cold, especially at midnight when temperatures drop sharply, Dawn reported.

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