PETALING JAYA: Haze blanketed Malaysia on Friday morning (Sept 18), pushing air quality into "Unhealthy" territory across half of the country's monitoring network as of 8am.
Data from the Environment Department’s Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS) showed 34 of 68 stations nationwide recording unsafe levels, with several regions edging dangerously close to the "Very Unhealthy" 200 threshold.
Johan Setia in Selangor recorded the nation's worst air quality at 198, followed closely by Kuching (192) and Samarahan (184) in Sarawak.
Heavy haze also gripped Peninsular Malaysia, with Nilai logging a reading of 181, Seri Manjung at 176, Putrajaya at 173, and both Shah Alam and Seremban at 171. In Sarawak, IPD Serian also recorded an unhealthy reading of 180.
Out of 68 stations nationwide, only three logged "Good" air quality, all located in East Malaysia: Limbang, Sarawak (49); Sandakan, Sabah (46); and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (44).
APIMS updates its figures hourly. Under the system, API values from 0 to 50 represent Good air quality, 51 to 100 Moderate, 101 to 200 Unhealthy, 201 to 300 Very Unhealthy, and anything above 300 Hazardous.
