KUALA LUMPUR: A total of six areas in Malaysia recorded hazardous Air Pollutant Index (API) readings as of 9.15am Tuesday (Sept 1), according to the Air Pollutant Index Management System (Apims).
All six areas are in Sarawak, with two readings above 400 – the Serian district police headquarters monitoring station (408) and Kuching (402).
The other four badly affected areas are Samarahan (371), Sri Aman (364), Sarikei (337) and Sibu (315).
Three other locations in Sarawak recorded very unhealthy readings: Bintulu (237), Mukah (237) and Samalaju (230).
Nine areas in the country recorded unhealthy levels of air pollution, four of them in Sarawak: the Institut Latihan Perindustrian Miri station (187), Miri (180), Kapit (179) and Limbang (166).
Other areas that recorded unhealthy readings are Labuan (167), and three areas in Sabah: Kimanis (158), Keningau (156) and Tawau (128).
The ninth area with an unhealthy reading is Johan Setia in Selangor at 140.
As of now 48 other areas around the country recorded API readings at the moderate level, while no areas recorded good readings.
API readings between zero and 50 indicate good air quality, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and those above 300 are categorised as hazardous.
API data is released hourly based on readings from 68 air quality monitoring stations nationwide.
