Beijing issues first yellow smog alert since new rules

People walking beside a shop in the Wangfujing shopping street in Beijing wear masks to protect against the heavy smog on Thursday. The city has been plagued with high pollution readings over the last week. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Beijing's weather authorities issued a yellow alert for heavy smog on Thursday, the first time since the city launched an emergency response plan in October last year. The pollution is expected to last for the next three days.

After briefly seeing sunshine on Wednesday, heavy smog blanketed the capital again on Thursday morning. The smog was expected to become even heavier on Friday due to poor conditions for diffusing smog, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

Data from the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center forecast that the whole city would be at Level 5 and Level 6, the two highest pollution levels, on Thursday night through Friday.

The Beijing municipal government has warned schools to reduce outdoor sports classes and advised the public to take protection measures.

This is the first time in 2014 that Beijing authorities have issued a yellow alert, which means severe air pollution is expected the next day, or that there has been three consecutive days of heavy pollution.

The yellow alert represents the second lowest level in a four-level system. The standard was set according to an emergency response plan released by the Beijing government in October last year, as part of a raft of measures to deal with deteriorating air quality.

Under the yellow alert, major polluters in the city are forced to take discharge reduction measures.

The initiation of the emergency response plan came less than a week after the public questioned the municipal government over its "inability" or even "laziness" when it comes to tackling pollution.

The air quality index at monitoring stations in downtown Beijing read between 424 and 470 at Level 6, indicating hazardous pollution on Sunday. However, the choking smog did not trigger any emergency plan and enraged many Net users.

Beijing's own air pollution control and prevention regulation will take effect on March 1, after the State Council released the national action plan in September 2013. It prioritizes the reduction of PM2.5 density and will impose unlimited fines on those who violate emissions requirements.