Delhi smog: Events as they unfolded on November 06

New Delhi: Cases of severe breathlessness, asthma and allergy have sharply risen in Delhi as the city remains blanketed in thick layer of toxic air due to the worst smog in 17 years.

Doctors and experts say that besides spike in fresh cases, health complications have aggravated in people having a history of asthma, allergy or other related ailments.

On the other hand, sale of air masks has seen an upsurge in the past week with stores across the national capital and neighbouring regions running out of stock.

06 November 2016

21:20 IST

 The dense cover of grey haze shrouding Delhi for almost a week, reminiscent of the 1952 Great Smog in London, on Sunday plunged the city's air quality to the season's worst, with even the 24-hour-average threatening to go past the maximum limit.

The real-time readings of respirable pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 breached the safe standards by over 17 times at many places. The hourly AQI (air quality index) of monitoring stations run by CPCB and SAFAR remained 500 plus, which is beyond the maximum limit.

Experts said while the level of sulphur dioxide (SO2) is still in control in the city, in terms of other parameters like volume of particulates, the situation was nearly as bad as the infamous London episode that had resulted in around 4,000 premature deaths, as per PTI.

21:19 IST

"This emergency situation demands emergency action. These measures will now require stringent enforcement. However, vehicle restraint measures including odd and even, and parking restraints must be included immediately for effective impact," says CSE's executive director Anumita Roychowdhury.

21:19 IST

Lauding the Delhi government's announcement of taking emergency steps to tackle the severe air pollution, a green body on Sunday said these will need strict enforcement and vehicle restraint measures, including odd-even scheme, for effective impact.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said for enduring impact, the government must also step up inter-state coordination to control fires in neighbouring states and take action to strengthen short and medium term measures for all pollution sources.

The severe pollution peaks that have persisted for about a week, pose serious health risk for children, the ailing and the people in general, it said.

21:18 IST

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta on Sunday demanded that the AAP government immediately form a panel of experts to redress the air pollution problems in a time-bound manner.

"The Chief Minister of Delhi should immediately form a committee with national and international experts to make Delhi pollution free in a time-bound manner," he said in a statement, as per PTI.

15:59 IST

Public schools won't be closed for three days over, says Delhi State Public Schools' Management Association.

14:06 IST

दिल्ली के सभी स्कूल अगले तीन तक बन्द रहेंगे।

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) November 6, 2016

13:45 IST

No DG sets to be used in Delhi for next 10 days except hospitals and emergency places. Badarpur power plant to be shut down for 10 days, says Kejriwal.

13:44 IST

Vacuum cleaning of roads will start from November 10, jet sprinkling of roads from tomorrow, government to bring odd even soon. says Delhi CM.

13:44 IST

Transportation of fly ash will be stopped for 10 days, says Kejriwal.

13:41 IST

Will discuss with Centre possibility of engineering artificial rain, says Delhi CM. 

13:41 IST

All demolition and construction activities to be banned for five days, says Kejriwal.

13:40 IST

Kejriwal says Delhi schools to remain closed for next three days. 

13:38 IST

Demand for air purifiers has spiked with manufacturers such as Eureka Forbes, Blueair, Kent RO and Panasonic expecting up to four-fold jump in sales.

13:38 IST

Delhi government has flagged crop burning in Punjab and Haryana as one of the major factors contributing to the rising air pollution in the national capital and said it peaks during the night hours due to low wind speed in comparison to day time. 

13:35 IST

Over 1800 MCD schools were closed on Saturday in wake of the pollution.

13:33 IST

Sale of air masks has seen an upsurge in Delhi in the past week with stores across the national capital and neighbouring regions running out of stock.

 The masks that are available at prices ranging from Rs 90 to up to Rs 2200 are available in various designs and patterns, as per PTI.

The starting range of masks includes the ones that are meant for one-time use while the high-priced ones are fitted with air filters and claim to be to stop over 99 per cent of the pollutants as well as bacteria and viruses from entering the user's nostrils.

The masks also come in five sizes - from XS to XL - depending on the height and weight of the user.

13:32 IST

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjriwal described Delhi as a "gas chamber" and appealed to people to minimise the use of private vehicles in view of the situation and switch to public transportation facilities.

13:31 IST

The Centre has termed it an "emergency situation" and called a meeting of environment ministers of all neighbouring states on Monday to curb stubble burning by farmers.

13:31 IST

Cases of severe breathlessness, asthma and allergy have sharply risen in Delhi. Doctors and experts say that besides spike in fresh cases, health complications have aggravated in people having a history of asthma, allergy or other related ailments.

13:30 IST

 Delhi remained blanketed in thick layer of toxic air on Sunday due to the worst smog in 17 years.