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Sky clear over Beijing

— PHOTO: Xinhua

Crystal clear: The reflection of the national stadium, the Bird’s Nest, under a blue sky in Beijing on Saturday. With Olympics a week away, Beijing witnessed a fine and blue sky after days of hazy weather.

BEIJING: Beijing saw another “blue sky” day on Saturday with the Olympic Games less than a week away.

The average air pollution index rose to 34 from 28 on Friday, but was still “level I” or “excellent,” the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection announced.

The average index was based on the data from 27 monitoring stations across the city, it said.

The temperature hit 34 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

A reading below 50 is classified as “excellent”, from 51 to100 “fairly good”, 101 to 200 “slightly polluted”, 201 to 300 “poor”, and over 301 “hazardous”, according to the bureau.

Till Saturday, the city had registered 151 “blue sky” days, or days with fairly good air quality, 18 days more than in the corresponding period last year.

Du Shaozhong, bureau deputy director, attributed the “blue sky” to car restrictions and other pollution-reduction measures.

The city has imposed a system where vehicles with odd and even numbers ply on alternate days from July 20 to September 20.

The air quality in the Olympic host city has been a major concern for some athletes and media organisations.

But environment officials dismissed worries about pollution during the Games. — Xinhua

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