By IANS,
Beijing: Normal life in east and central China was badly affected due to heavy fog and smog which caused the closure of many highways and flight delays in several provinces Saturday.
Beijing was shrouded in dense smog for a second day Saturday and the smoggy weather would not clear up until Monday, according to the capital city’s environment monitoring centre.
The city’s air is heavily polluted with the elderly, children and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases being advised to stay indoors to reduce exposure to polluted air, Shanghai Daily reported.
The city’s air pollution reached dangerous levels for a second day Saturday, Xinhua reported.
The fog also blanketed several regions in east and central China, including Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces.
According to Shandong provincial meteorological centre, over 20 highways were closed after the fog reduced visibility in some areas to less than 50 metres in the province.
A total of 63 flights in and out of Shandong’s coastal city of Qingdao had been cancelled or delayed Saturday, affecting about 5,000 passengers, said airport administration authorities in Qingdao.
With the visibility in eight cities reduced to less than 500 metres in Jiangxi, the fog forced closure of five highways and delayed dozens of flights at an airport in the provincial capital of Nanchang in the morning, said meteorological authorities.