PETALING JAYA: Unhealthy air quality was recorded in 24 areas as of 7pm on Saturday (Oct 24), up from 23 at 3pm, according to the Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS).
Seremban in Negri Sembilan recorded the highest reading at 171, down slightly from 172 at 3pm.
Of the 23 areas that were unhealthy at both times, 13 recorded lower readings, six higher and four unchanged.
Paka in Terengganu joined the unhealthy list with a reading of 107, up from 94 at 3pm, while no area dropped out.
Readings rose sharply in Rompin (152, from 112) and Samarahan (160, from 137), but eased in Cheras (112, from 141) and Putrajaya (110, from 127).
Johor had the most unhealthy areas at eight, followed by Sarawak with five, Negri Sembilan and Melaka with three each and WP Kuala Lumpur with two.
Pahang, Terengganu and Putrajaya had one unhealthy area each.
In Johor, the affected areas were Batu Pahat (166), Kluang (164), Larkin (162), Tangkak (161), Pasir Gudang (159), Segamat (155), Pengerang (153) and Kota Tinggi (151).
In Sarawak, unhealthy readings were recorded in IPD Serian (169), Kuching (161), Sri Aman (160), Samarahan (160) and Kapit (145).
In Negri Sembilan, the areas were Seremban (171), Nilai (166) and Port Dickson (138), while Melaka recorded unhealthy readings in Bukit Rambai (162), Bandaraya Melaka (159) and Alor Gajah (157).
The other unhealthy areas were Batu Muda (158) and Cheras (112) in Kuala Lumpur, Rompin (152) in Pahang, Putrajaya (110) in WP Putrajaya and Paka (107) in Terengganu.
The highest moderate readings were recorded in Johan Setia (94), Keningau (92), Sibu (91), Klang (90), Petaling Jaya (89) and Banting (88).
They were followed by Bintulu (88), Seri Manjung (85), Politeknik Kota Kinabalu (84), Shah Alam (83) and Samalaju (83).
Meanwhile, 39 areas recorded moderate air quality, unchanged from 3pm, while good readings fell to five from six after Kuala Terengganu rose to 53.
The areas with good air quality were Kota Baru, Kangar, Langkawi, Tanah Merah and Besut.
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.
