DHAKA: Half of Beijing’s private cars have been ordered off the streets and many construction sites and schools closed after the government raised the alert on pollution in the Chinese capital to the highest level, red.

A grey haze descended on Tuesday on the city of around 21.5 million people, with levels hitting above 300 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the US embassy, which issues independent readings, reports Al Jazeera.

The World Health Organization’s recommended maximum exposure is 25.

The alert coincided with global climate change talks in Paris, where Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed ‘action’ on greenhouse gas emissions.

Al Jazeera’s Adrian Brown, reporting from Beijing, said the pollution level on Tuesday was much lower than what was reported on November 30, when pollution index hit as high as 634 in some areas.

But the Chinese government ‘was stunned into action’ after being openly criticized last week, and it wanted to show that is was responding to the public by issuing the red alert.

Still, the level of pollution remains dangerous, Brown said.

‘You can see the pollution, you can taste the pollution,’ he said.

At 9:00am in Beijing (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday, official pollution index reported a level of 261, which was higher than the 250 index reported by weather monitors at the US embassy in Beijing.

BDST: 1541 HRS, DEC 08, 2015
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