Air quality worsens, two Sarawak stations breach very unhealthy levels, 29 areas nationwide unhealthy

On August 29, two monitoring stations in Sarawak reported very unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings. The Sri Aman station and the Serian district police headquarters (IPD) monitoring station recorded API levels of 229 and 228, respectively. This follows 29 other areas nationwide registering unhealthy air quality. Data from the Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS) portal indicates that Sarikei in Sarawak had an API of 194, Sungai Petani in Kedah had an API of 161, Cheras in Kuala Lumpur had an API of 160, Minden in Penang had an API of 158, Taiping in Perak had an API of 158, Shah Alam in Selangor had an API of 157, Putrajaya had an API of 155, Seremban in Negeri Sembilan had an API of 151, and Segamat in Johor had an API of 132.

In contrast, 36 areas nationwide are experiencing moderate air quality. Pegoh Ipoh in Perak recorded an API of 99, Banting in Selangor recorded an API of 95, Bukit Rambai in Melaka recorded an API of 92, Tangkak in Johor recorded an API of 90, Besut in Terengganu recorded an API of 88, Kota Bharu in Kelantan recorded an API of 87, and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah recorded an API of 86.

API readings range from 0 to 50 (good), 51 to 100 (moderate), 101 to 200 (unhealthy), 201 to 300 (very unhealthy), and above 300 (hazardous). These readings are updated hourly based on data from 68 monitoring stations across the country, as reported by Bernama.