LAHORE: Smog has taken the lives of at least two people while injuring dozens of others in the last 24 hours in the Kasur.
Traffic around the city has been severely affected due to smog, especially around the motorway.
Apart from that, flight schedule of international and domestic flights at the Allama Iqbal International Airport has also been affected with a lot of flights getting delayed; flights to Karachi, Muscat and Doha have been cancelled.
According to the Pakistan Metrological Department (MET), a rain system has entered Pakistan and Punjab might receive its first rainfall of the season from Tuesday. On the other hand, Quetta, Chaman, Noshki and other adjoining areas of Baluchistan have already had their first winter rainfall.
MET has predicted rain in Karachi, parts of Punjab, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. According to the environmental experts, this rainfall might clear the smog, cities are facing all around Punjab.
Section 144 has been imposed in the province, banning the burning of crops, tyres, and garbage until further notice by the Punjab Government.
Smog in Lahore had crossed all the international benchmarks early this week as the level of PM 2.5, which is termed the most dangerous pollutant in the air across the world, remained between 450ug/m3 and 500ug/m3 against the notified standards of 35ug/m3 per day.
As per World Health Organization standards, the daily average level of PM 2.5 should not be more than 10ug/m3 and aggregated annual mean 25ug/m3 in a day whereas as per a gazette notification of the Punjab government, the daily limit of PM2.5 is 15ug/m3 and aggregated annual mean 35ug/m3 per day.