Beijing's
official smog reading for PM 2.5 - small airborne particles which easily
penetrate the lungs and have been linked to hundreds of thousands of premature
deaths - stood at 501 micrograms per cubic metre on Wednesday afternoon. The
World Health Organisation's recommended safe limit is 25.An alternative measure
by the US embassy in Beijing said PM 2.5 levels were at 542 in the
city.
The
capital was on its sixth day of an "orange" smog alert - the second-highest on
the scale - with the air tasting gritty and visibility down to a few hundred
metres.Malcolm Moore in Beijing says that "you can barely see the skyscrapers"
in the city because of the smog.The choking smog has seen sales of
anti-pollution products boom and online face-mask stores were struggling to meet
demand. Telegraph.
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