Hong Kong residents breathed in the worst air of 2013 on Monday, joining citizens in mainland China who have been choking on dangerously high pollution levels, and further undermining the city’s role as an Asian financial centre.
Air pollution index readings hit their highest levels this year at roadside monitoring stations in Mong Kok and Central, home to financial institutions such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered, recording “severe” levels of 205 and 210, respectively.
More than half of the 11 stations in areas with less traffic recorded “very high” levels between 103 and 140.
The situation was caused as pollutants, in particular nitrogen dioxide, became trapped within the city where skyscrapers packed together stop air from circulating, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said.
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