PETALING JAYA: The deteriorating air quality is spreading with unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings recorded not just in Sarawak but also Selangor, Perak, Kedah, and even Penang, Melaka, Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
In Sarawak, the badly-affected areas were Serian (192), Kuching (181), Samarahan (173), Sri Aman (155), Bintulu (142) and Mukah (141), as of 5pm yesterday.
In Selangor, unhealthy API readings were recorded at Johan Setia (162), Shah Alam (113) and Kuala Selangor (108).
Other readings were Cheras (109) and Putrajaya (108).
In Perak, the readings were Seri Manjung (148), Tasek Ipoh (122) and Tanjung Malim (101); Sungai Petani (154) and Alor Setar (148) in Kedah; and in Minden (113), Penang; Bukit Rambai (104), Melaka; and Kota Tinggi (107), Johor.
Across 49 stations in the country, moderate readings ranged between 55 and 98.
Additionally, dry conditions continued over most of the southern Asean region overnight, except for showers mainly over the northern parts of Borneo and Sumatra, the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) reported.
Clusters of isolated to scattered hotspots were detected in parts of Kalimantan and the southern and central parts of Sumatra, while several hotspots were detected elsewhere in the southern Asean region.
“Moderate smoke haze was observed over the western parts of Borneo, while moderate to dense smoke plumes were observed in the central and southern parts of Sumatra.
“Slight localised smoke plumes were also observed in parts of Kalimantan. Several air quality stations in West Kalimantan, the western parts of Sarawak, and the southern and central parts of Sumatra recorded unhealthy to very unhealthy levels,” it said.
However, the full extent of the hotspot and smoke haze situation in the region could not be determined due to cloud cover.
It added that wet and cloudy conditions prevailed over the northern Asean region, with heavier rainfall over the northern parts of Vietnam due to the influence of Tropical Storm Narra.
As such, hotspot and smoke haze activities remained subdued.
In the coming days, dry conditions are forecast over many parts of the southern Asean region, aside from parts of Peninsular Malaysia, the western coastal and northern parts of Sumatra, and the northern and central parts of Borneo, where showers are expected.
