On Monday, Beijing and some parts of northwestern China were covered in a layer of thick dust which has also brought aby a heavy winds blowing in from the Gobi desert.
Due to which more than 400 flights were canceled at both of Beijing’s airports, skyscrapers were obscured?in a thick brown haze, and morning traffic was snarled with visibility greatly reduced.?
“This is the most intense sandstorm weather the country has seen in 10 years,” China’s National Meteorological Center said on its website, as sandstorms spread from Inner Mongolia into the provinces of Gansu, Shanxi and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing.
China’s Environment Ministry said the dust cloud should shift south and clear the Beijing area by Wednesday or Thursday.
Meanwhile, Beijing’s air quality index reached a maximum reading of 500 on Monday, which is considered hazardous to health. The concentration of dust particles in some Beijing districts measured 8,000 micrograms per cubic meter.?
While in Mongolia the severe sandstorms have reportedly caused six deaths and left dozens missing.
The WHO currently sets safe levels of air quality based on the concentration of polluting particles called particulate matter (PM) found in the air.