Pakistan's Punjab closes schools and sets up a 'smog war room' over air pollution

According to doctors in Lahore, record high air pollution is driving more people to hospitals and clinics.

Authorities in Pakistan’s Punjab province have ordered educational institutions in several areas to close until November 17 and switch to online learning to protect children and combat pollution.

The province, home to more than half of Pakistan’s 240 million people, had previously closed primary schools, restricted tuk-tuks and shuttered some barbecue restaurants in megacity Lahore.

“Looking at the forecast wind and air quality index, we will close all higher secondary schools,” Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in Punjab, said at a press conference in Lahore on Wednesday.

Live rankings from Swiss group IQAir gave Lahore a pollution index score of 1,165, followed by the Indian capital New Delhi at 299.

“This morning’s AQI crossed 1,100… I appeal to citizens for God’s sake not to come out of your houses,” Aurangzeb added.

Record high air pollution in Lahore is sending more people to hospitals and private clinics, doctors said, as authorities warned that a complete lockdown could be imminent if residents do not put on face masks and follow other guidelines related to smog.

Doctors emphasized that most people complain of coughing or feeling like their eyes are burning.

“Tens of thousands of patients with respiratory diseases were treated in hospitals and clinics in a week,” Salman Kazmi, vice president of the Pakistan Medical Association in Punjab, told the Associated Press.

Other affected cities include Faisalabad, Pakistan’s third largest, as well as Multan and Gujranwala.

‘Smog war room’

Punjab province has also set up a ‘smog war room’ to tackle severe pollution, officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The war room will bring together staff from eight departments, with one person charged with overseeing tasks ranging from controlling the burning of agricultural waste to managing traffic.

Twice-daily sessions will analyze data and forecasts to inform stakeholders about anti-pollution efforts, and issue daily advisories, the officials added.

The Pakistani government has also said it is exploring methods to induce artificial rainfall to combat pollution.

But Wednesday’s index score for Lahore remained below last week’s unprecedented reading of 1,900 in some areas, exceeding recommended levels by more than 120 times, prompting a ban on certain construction activities and work-from-home orders.

At the time, Minister Aurangzeb blamed the toxic air on pollution drifting across the border with India, just 25 km away. The northern areas of India also suffer from serious pollution.

The Punjab government will ask Pakistan’s foreign ministry to take up the matter with the Indian foreign ministry, Aurangzeb told the Indian Express newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday.

Intensive pollution is a common problem in South Asia every winter. It occurs when cold air traps dust, emissions and smoke from farm fires.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), nearly 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to high levels of this air pollution and half of childhood pneumonia deaths are related to it.