BANGKOK, Nov 22 (TNA) – The Public Health Ministry has prepared to handle the fine dust situation, likely to intensify next month.
Permanent Secretary for Public Health, Dr. Sukhum Kanchanapimai said that several parts of Bangkok and surrounding provinces have been affected by particulate matter 2.5 for 22 days and the situation is likely to worsen in early December.
After the meeting with public health officials across the country via a video conference today, he said officials were ordered to closely monitor the level of fine particulate matter and to install air quality monitoring devices in 20 areas, which have no dust sensors.
If the level of hazardous tiny dust rises to 75 microgrammes per cubic metre over the PM2.5 threshold at 50 mg/m³ for more than three days, an emergency operation center will be set up in the provincial level, he said.
If the situation gets worse to the critical level, the center will be upgraded to the ministerial level to tackle the problems.
Provincial officials have been instructed to enforce the law to ban outdoor burning as well.
So far, the small number of patients, suffering from dust-related respiratory diseases was reported and the impacts on the people cannot be assessed without the significant figure, he added. (TNA)
