KUCHING (July 25): Air quality in Lundu has deteriorated to an unhealthy level, with the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading at 125 as of 8am.

According to the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) website, the API readings for all other areas in the state remained moderate, although the readings in Kuching (94), Sri Aman (91), and Mukah (90) were rising closer to unhealthy levels.

An API reading of 51 to 100 is considered moderate, while API readings of 101 to 200 are categorised as unhealthy.

Based on yesterday’s Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) findings, air quality in Sarawak is expected to deteriorate given the large number of hotspots due to open burning detected near and across the Sarawak-Kalimantan Barat border near Lundu.

The ASMC Satellite also detected hotspots across several areas in Sarawak this week, particularly in the western and central regions.

Clusters of hotspots were observed in Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman, and Betong divisions, with more detected south of Sibu and scattered near Kapit.

Smaller numbers appeared near Mukah and northeast of Bintulu.

ASMC in its website https://asmc.asean.org/ reported that dry weather persisted over the southern Asean region, including Sarawak, and only a few isolated hotspots were detected in Sarawak and Sumatra, while scattered hotspots were observed in Kalimantan.