Now 19 areas having unhealthy air quality

At 5pm today, 19 areas in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak recorded unhealthy air quality as compared to 18 at 2pm.

According to the Department of Environment's (DOE) website, the new location to record unhealty quality was Sarikei in Sarawak which had an Air Pollutants Index (API) reading of 101.

The other areas with unhealthy air quality were Nilai with API of 161, Seremban (155), Sri Aman (110), Samarahan (128), Banting (168), Kuala Selangor (112), Port Kelang (115), Cheras (129), Putrajaya (156), Bandaraya Melaka (166), Port Dickson (160) and Shah Alam (151).

The following locations saw a drop in the API readings at 5pm, namely Pasir Gudang (105), Muar (147), Bukit Rambai (169), Kuching (118), Petaling Jaya (144), and Batu Muda (131).

An API of between 0 and 50 is good, 51 to 100 (moderate), 101 to 200(not healthy), 201 to 300 (very unhealthy) and 300 upwards (dangerous).

The public could refer to the portal http://apims.doe.gov.my to find out the current API readings.