Shocking Pollution In Beijing Has Led To Half The City’s Cars Being Banned Via A Number Plate Lottery

It’s fairly safe to say that Beijing isn’t the most pleasant place to be right now. Schools have been closed, many factories ordered to either shut down or scale back operations, and half of all the city’s cars have been taken off the road. And it’s all because of excessive smog, which has forced the first ‘red alert’ since the city - the most polluted in the world - adopted a new four-tier system two years ago.

As far as the cars go, one half will be able to drive one day, and the other half the next. As with similar measures brought in for Paris a couple of years ago, which group you’re in depends upon whether your number plate ends on an odd or even number.

So just how bad is it over there? Well, the levels of particulate matter (or PM2.5) in the air measured at 291 micrograms per cubic metre on Tuesday, and the World Health Organisation’s recommendation is just 25. Yikes.

The red alert measures are expected to last until Thursday.

Source: BBC News