Beijing pollution alert maintained as smog lingers

The Imperial Palace is blanketed by fog and smog in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2014. Many parts of China were hit by heavy smog on Monday. And the serious pollution will remain intact in Beijing over the next three days. (Xinhua/Li Wen)

Beijing on Monday maintained its orange pollution alert, the second-highest alert level, as severe smog is forecast to linger in the Chinese capital for another three days.

The density of PM2.5, particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, which have been a major contributor to the smog, climbed again Sunday night and remained at high levels, the city's office for severe air pollution emergency response said in a statement.

The agency advised children and the elderly to stay indoors and to wear masks while going out. It also urged residents to take public transport and reduce driving. The agency urged middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens to reduce outdoor activities.

As students returned to schools on Monday, outdoor physical education classes and routine national flag raising ceremonies were canceled. Classes will not be suspended unless a higher red alert is issued.

Liu Wei, vice president of Cuiwei Primary School, said school authorities have ordered the cancellation of all outdoor activities and to keep students indoors.

A teacher at Zhongguancun No. 3 Primary School told Xinhua that the school has canceled the routine flag-raising ceremony and shifted physical education classes indoors.

City authorities on Friday ordered 36 companies to halt production and another 75 to reduce production as part of a response mechanism when the pollution alert was raised to orange from yellow.

Beijing issued a yellow pollution alert on Thursday, the first since last October, when the emergency response system was put into place.

Beijing has a four-tier alert system, with blue, yellow, orange and red indicating the air pollution level in order of increasing severity.

A red alert indicates the most serious air pollution (AQI above 300) for three consecutive days. An orange alert indicates heavy to serious air pollution (AQI between 200 and 300) alternately for three consecutive days. A yellow alert indicates severe pollution for one day or heavy pollution for three consecutive days.

A red alert requires traffic to be cut with alternate driving days for even- and odd-numbered license plates, and schools to be suspended. Industrial plants are closed or told to reduce production when an orange alert is issued.

Despite a spate of control measures, Beijing and neighboring cities, mainly in Hebei Province, are prone to frequent air pollution.

The current smog, which started on Thursday, is also forecast to persist in other northern regions, including Tianjin, Hebei, and parts of Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and Liaoning for the next three days, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

A cold front is forecast to ease or disperse the smog on Thursday, said the administration.

While the cold front is days away, regions are rolling out emergency measures to battle air pollution, which is increasingly a source of complaints and frustration among urban residents.

Authorities in Shanxi have ordered outdated production facilities to suspend production to improve pollutant treatment. Hebei dismantled some high-polluting steel mills Sunday to reduce annual capacity by 6.7 million tonnes, part of its efforts to cut steel capacity by 60 million tonnes between 2013 and 2017.

Authorities in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, ordered the removal of one-fifth of vehicles from roads based on the last digit of the license plate starting Sunday. A similar measure went into effect in Tianjin on Sunday.

To help tackle pollution in the long term, the municipal government in Tianjin went further to launch a clean energy initiative on Monday, saying it will promote the use of 12,000 new energy vehicles mainly in the public transport and logistics sectors.