Beijing issues 3-day major smog alert, third this year
BEIJING – Reuters
Beijing declared its third major smog alert of 2018, and the second this month, just a day after being named the top performer among 28 Chinese cities that took special measures to rein in pollution.
March 24’s orange alert, the second-highest in a four-level system after red, will run from Monday to Wednesday, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said in a post on its official Weibo microblog account.
The central part of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is forecast to see medium to heavy pollution over the three days, it added.
An orange alert requires factories that make furniture, cement and other heavy industry to limit output by 30 percent to 50 percent. More than 700 companies figure among the affected firms in the capital.
Beijing achieved the biggest reduction in average pollution among 28 northern cities from October to February, the bulk of a winter heating season that ended on March 15, the newly formed Ministry of Ecology and Environment said last week on Weibo.
The Chinese capital’s first orange alert this year ran from Jan. 13 to 15, and the second from March 12 to 14. There have been no red alerts this year.
