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Kuala Lumpur shrouded by heavy haze

Xinhua, August 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Heavy haze engulfed most part of Kuala Lumpur, capital city of Malaysia on Monday, as air pollutant readings near unhealthy levels.

Figures from Malaysia's Department of Environment showed the readings of Air Pollutant Index (API) at multiple monitoring stations in Kuala Lumpur reached 90 as of Monday afternoon, almost reaching the unhealthy level of 100.

Malaysia measures its API mainly by particulate matter with diameter of less than 10 micron, or PM 10. An API reading of 0 to 50 indicates good air quality while 51 to 100 means moderate.

The 88-story Petronas Towers, the world's tallest twin buildings, were barely visible on Monday.

Smoky haze even reached the office of Najib Razak, Malaysia's prime minister, prompting him to post a tweet on his official twitter account, saying "the haze is back in some areas, please take healthcare measures, especially the old and the children."

The return of the haze is a reminder that it is too early to be optimistic about pollution control efforts in Indonesia, where a large part of the pollutant were created by forest burning.

Just days ago, Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar commended Indonesia's efforts in dealing with forest fire and haze, saying he hoped good conditions will continue up to October. Enditem