Shanghai environmental authority activated emergency measures against air pollution this morning.

It is the second time such measures were launched within eight days.

Schools and kindergartens have been ordered to cancel outdoor activities, operations at constructions sites within the Outer Ring Road suspended, and vehicles carrying construction waste banned from the roads, after a blue heavy pollution alert was issued at 6 am.

Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center forecast the pollution yesterday due to a change in wind direction, which was expected to bring pollutants from the northern and western provinces into the city.

The Air Quality Index went beyond 300, or “severely polluted,” at 4 am and lingered around that level since then.

Local education commission issued a notice this morning that all schools and kindergartens should cancel outdoor activities, while students late or absent would not be punished.

Schools are also asked to carry out PE classes indoor and rearrange teaching schedule according to student attendance.

The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau also asked housing construction, traffic and other departments to adapt emergency measures to keep road clean and stop works that would increase dust in the air, such as tearing down houses and excavating roads.

Source: Poor air quality prompts city to activate emergency measures again this morning | Shanghai Daily