PETALING JAYA: Haze eased with 32 areas recording unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings as of 8am on Saturday (Oct 10), down from 37 on Friday (Oct 9) afternoon, according to the Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS).
Johor remained the worst hit, with all eight of its areas still unhealthy and Batu Pahat recording the highest reading nationwide at 190, up from 170 on Friday afternoon.
Of the 31 areas that stayed in the unhealthy range, 23 recorded lower readings than on Friday afternoon, while seven recorded higher readings and one was unchanged.
Johor had the most unhealthy areas with eight, followed by Selangor with six, Perak with four and Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Pahang with three each.
The Johor areas were Batu Pahat (190), Larkin (185), Pasir Gudang (185), Tangkak (185), Segamat (181), Kluang (177), Kota Tinggi (173) and Pengerang (169), with five of the eight recording higher readings than on Friday afternoon.
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In Negri Sembilan, Seremban (184), Nilai (180) and Port Dickson (165) were unhealthy, while the Melaka areas were Bukit Rambai (178), Bandaraya Melaka (175) and Alor Gajah (174).
In Selangor, the areas were Shah Alam (169), Johan Setia (168), Petaling Jaya (162), Klang (159), Banting (157) and Kuala Selangor (154), while Cheras (175) and Batu Muda (170) in WP Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (169) also recorded unhealthy readings.
In Perak, the areas were Tasek Ipoh (175), Pegoh Ipoh (171), Tanjung Malim (169) and Seri Manjung (153), while in Pahang they were Rompin (167), Temerloh (151) and Indera Mahkota Kuantan (151).
Kuching in Sarawak (152) and Seberang Perai in Pulau Pinang (121) also recorded unhealthy readings.
Sungai Petani and Alor Setar in Kedah, Minden and Seberang Jaya in Pulau Pinang, Kemaman in Terengganu and Taiping in Perak have dropped out of the unhealthy range since Friday afternoon, while Kuching is the only new addition to the list.
Among the areas with the highest moderate readings were Samarahan in Sarawak (100), Sungai Petani in Kedah (98), Seberang Jaya in Pulau Pinang (96), Taiping in Perak (96), Minden in Pulau Pinang (94) and IPD Serian in Sarawak (94).
Balok Baru Kuantan in Pahang (90), Kota Bharu in Kelantan (89), Miri in Sarawak (89) and Kulim Hi-Tech in Kedah (88) also recorded elevated moderate readings.
Meanwhile, 36 areas around the country recorded API readings at the moderate level, up from 31 on Friday afternoon, while no areas recorded good readings.
API readings of between zero and 50 indicate good air quality, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, while readings above 300 are categorised as hazardous.
API data is released hourly based on readings from 68 air quality monitoring stations nationwide.
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Keywords: Haze, APIMS, Air pollutant index, API, Batu Pahat, Johor, Air quality, Malaysia, Pollution, Unhealthy
