Air quality in several districts drop to unhealthy levels

The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has warned that the quality of air in parts of the island has dropped further to unhealthy levels.

Accordingly, the NBRO highlighted that apart from Nuwara Eliya, the air quality in all other districts is at an unhealthy level, with Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna recording particularly high levels of unhealthy air quality.

The NBRO further warned that according to the US Air Quality Index (AQI), the quality of air recorded in Colombo, Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Badulla, Kurunegala, Kandy and Matale is likely to cause adverse health effects.

The NBRO says that an influx of dust particles contaminating Sri Lanka’s air space through strong winds from neighbourng countries and the extreme dry weather are likely causes for this alarming drop in air quality.

Thus, the NBRO urged for those suffering from respiratory or cardiac diseases, and elderly persons and children to wear face masks when outdoors.