Steam rises behind a wall of the Forbidden City, once the home of China’s emperors, on a polluted day in Beijing yesterday.
AFP
Beijing
Beijing issued its second-ever red alert for smog and put its emergency response plan into action once again as severe pollution hit China’s capital yesterday.
The notice from the capital’s environmental bureau ordered factories to close and pulled half of all private cars off the streets, among other measures, as bad air flooded into the city for the third “airpocalypse” of the month.
The red alert, the highest tier of a four-colour warning system, will last until Tuesday, according to a statement on the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau’s website.
It is the second time the highest level alert has been issued since the city established a pollution warning system in 2013.
