JAIPUR: The city’s air quality improved drastically on Tuesday and touched the ‘satisfactory’ level after 40 days. The last time the city recorded such a level of ambient air quality was on October 8. The city's air quality index (AQI) value was 98 on Tuesday, down from 205 on Diwali.
Earlier, doctors were apprehensive that the city’s air quality might worsen after Diwali, which could have had an adverse impact on health of patients, who had recovered from Covid-19, and those who were already suffering from chronic lung diseases. Following this, the state government had imposed a ban on crackers.
But since Diwali, the air quality has been continuously improving. On Diwali (November 14), it was poor, but for the next two days it improved and has now touched the satisfactory level.
A senior health department official said the advisory committee on Covid had anticipated that the rising air pollution could spread Covid cases faster. The health department officials had advised people to take precautions to avoid the risk of infection before Diwali.
The ban on firecrackers, which was partially effective, helped to maintain the air quality, which did not deteriorate to the level of severe on Diwali and the next day in the city.
According to health experts, the hailstorm and rain a day after the festival also helped to improve the air quality. While comparing the AQI with 2019 Diwali, the index this year was 48.4% less at police commissionerate. The AQI was 411 on Diwali in 2019, but it fell to 212 this year.