Johan Setia in Selangor recorded an unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 151 on the morning of August 17, with 58 other areas showing moderate air quality and 8 areas reporting good levels that day [1, 2]. The unhealthy air quality persisted in Johan Setia the following morning as the API reading rose to 160, remaining above the threshold of 100 for several consecutive days [3].
On August 19 at 9 a.m., five areas in Sarawak registered unhealthy API readings: Serian at 156, Kuching at 154, Sri Aman at 152, Samarahan at 113, and Mukah at 106 [4, 5, 6]. During the same morning nationwide, 58 areas recorded moderate air quality and 5 areas reported good air quality [4, 5, 6].
The Malaysian Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS) collects hourly API readings from 68 monitoring stations nationwide [1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6]. Air quality categories are defined by the API as follows: 0-50 is good, 51-100 moderate, 101-200 unhealthy, 201-300 very unhealthy, and above 300 hazardous [1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6].
The next scheduled API report will update air quality levels from the monitoring stations, offering further data on the ongoing air pollution situation.
