Sarawak air quality improves as Serian and Samarahan drop from unhealthy to moderate

KUCHING, Aug 17 — According to the Natural Resources and Environment Board’s Daily Haze Watch, Sarawak's air quality improved across most monitoring stations on Monday morning. However, Bario remained at a good level, with an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 50. In Serian and Samarahan, the API readings dropped from unhealthy to moderate levels, with 157 and 151 at 4pm on Sunday, respectively, to 98 and 92 by 8am.

Other locations such as Lundu and Tebedu also saw an improvement, moving from unhealthy readings of 111 and 109 to 93 and 73 by 8am. On the other hand, Sibu, Kapit, and Lubok Antu experienced slight increases in API readings, rising from 66 to 70, 52 to 54, and 68 to 70, respectively. Samalaju had the biggest decrease, falling from 79 to 62.

Kuching's API reading also decreased to 87 by 8am, seven points lower than Sunday's reading. Other areas with decreasing API readings included Sri Aman, Sarikei, Bintulu, Mukah, and Lawas, while Bario recorded a reading of 50. API readings ranging from 51 to 100 are classified as moderate, while readings between 0 and 50 are categorised as good.