Delhi Pollution: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced that all the government and private primary schools in the national capital will remain closed for the next two days amid an alarming surge in air pollution levels. The schools will remain closed on Friday and Saturday. 

"In light of the rising pollution levels, all govt and private primary schools in Delhi will remain closed for the next 2 days," Kejriwal wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

The schools have been advised to hold classes online. Meanwhile, the Delhi government has also banned all non-essential construction work in Delhi-NCR and prohibited the entry of diesel trucks into the city to curb the menace of air pollution. 

The restrictions have been imposed as part of the Commission for Air Quality Management's Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), stage III. The CAQM expressed concerns that the pollution levels in the national capital are expected to increase in the upcoming days due to unfavourable weather conditions. 

Earlier in the day, the majority of the NCR got covered with Maroon flags which indicates hazardous air quality. According to the SAFAR data, Delhi’s AQI was 351 as of 10 am. Some areas in the national capital experienced severe air quality levels, indicating a public health emergency.

These areas include Anand Vihar (413), Mundka (420), Bawana (401), and Punjabi Bagh (416). While the air quality index in Noida’s Sector 62 stood at 469 according to the weather agency aqicn.org.

An AQI between zero to 50 is considered as good, 51 to 100 satisfactory, 101 to 200 moderate, 201 to 300 poor, 301 to 400 very poor, and 401 to 500 severe.