Officials from the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center estimate that the heavy air pollution will cloud over the city until Thursday afternoon, when the cold front arrives. (Photo : www.japandailypress.com)
Beijing recorded its highest level of air pollution on Dec. 7, Monday afternoon. From the orange level, authorities raised it to red alert, the most serious level.
It's also the first time for Beijing to issue such a record-breaking alert since 2013.
The red level warning will last from 7 in the morning of Tuesday to 12 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10.
Classes in kindergartens, elementary and middle schools, as well as extracurricular training facilities were suspended as per advise from Beijing's Education Commission. To compensate for the missed days, teachers were encouraged to give learning instructions via Internet and other tools.
Beijing will also implement an odd-even scheme to limit the use of cars for the meantime. The scheme will also cover 30 percent of government cars.
Officials from the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center estimate that the heavy air pollution will cloud over the city until Thursday afternoon, when the cold front arrives.
The red level warning is only sounded when heavy pollution is expected to linger for more than three days. The other alerts--blue, yellow and orange--are milder warnings but still issued on "heavy pollution" days.
Aside from suspension of classes and implementation of the odd-even scheme, operations of outdoor construction sites are banned to help curb the heavy pollution. Some industrial plants may also be required to limit or temporary halt production.
For the meantime, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has dispatched special units to inspect and ensure timely launches of emergency plans.
Relevant sectors and agencies will face severe punishment upon failure to initiate emergency response plans in a timely manner, according to Chen Jining, the Chinese environment minister.
Local environment protection agencies, particularly in areas that are constantly affected by heavy pollution, should examine and improve emergency response measures as well, said the minister.
