Bangkok’s air Thailand’s most polluted Tuesday

The country’s worst air pollution was detected in Bangkok on Tuesday morning, with ultrafine dust accumulation at “red” hazardous-to-health levels in the capital and adjacent provinces.

The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Gistda) reported at 10am that particulate matter 2.5 micrometres and less in diameter (PM2.5) was recorded at 88.6 microgrammes per cubic metre of air over 24 hours in Bangkok.

The government-set safe threshold is 37.5µg/m³.

PM2.5 was at red levels in all 50 districts of the capital. The worst,  96.7µg/m³, was in Bang Kho Laem district.

The adjacent provinces of Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Pathum Thani also faced red levels of PM2.5 – at 83.6, 80.9, 79.5 and 79.1µg/m³ respectively.

Sixteen other provinces were rated with safe levels of PM2.5, ranging from 24 to 37.3µg/m³. The lowest was in the southern province of Krabi.

The 15 other provinces, mostly in the South, where air was safe to breathe were Chiang Mai, Chumphon, Nan, Narathiwat, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Phangnga, Phatthalung, Phayao, Phuket, Ranong, Satun, Songkhla, Trang and Yala.

Other provinces were shrouded with orange levels of PM2.5 ranging from 37.7 to 74.8µg/m³, a level which starts to affect health.

The Pollution Control Department said that PM2.5 levels would rise from Wednesday to Friday in Greater Bangkok and some areas in the East and the Northeast.