Beijing hit by high levels of pollution for a third day in a row

Record ID: 163203

  • Title: Beijing hit by high levels of pollution for a third day in a row
  • Date: 5th January 2017
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JANUARY 5, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC ON ROAD AMID SMOG VARIOUS OF SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ON BRIDGE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 39-YEAR-OLD LOCAL RESIDENT, ZHANG XIA, SAYING: "We basically don't go out. We use a purifier at home and rarely open windows." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LEAVING HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 29-YEAR-OLD LOCAL RESIDENT, ZHANG SHUO, SAYING: "Recently, I feel chest discomfort and that's why I put on my mask. My child wears a mask but I normally don't. I don't feel good that's why I'm wearing a mask now." PEOPLE WALKING ON THE STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 27-YEAR-OLD LOCAL RESIDENT, DONG JIANXIA, SAYING: "He's been coughing and breathing heavily again and again this month, and he never fully recovers." REPORTER ASKING: "Does the smog affect your life?" "It affects a lot; we've spent all our money on our child this winter." VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC IN SMOG
  • Embargoed: 20th January 2017 06:44
  • Keywords: China Beijing smog pollution alert orange
  • Location: BEIJING, CHINA
  • City: BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Pollution,Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015XT04LH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Fog and smog continued to blanket central and eastern China on Thursday (January 5), causing schools to suspend outdoor activities.
    China's National Meteorological Center continued to issue an orange alert for smog and downgraded an alert for fog from red to yellow at 6 a.m. in parts of central and eastern China, including the capital Beijing.
    "We basically don't go out. We use a purifier at home and rarely open windows," said 39-year-old Zhang Xia who was going to the hospital with her daughter who she says has been coughing regularly for the past few days.
    Outside the New Century International Children's Hospital, people were flocking for medical treatment.
    Among them was 29-year-old Zhang Shuo with his 4-year old son who has been suffering from a fever.
    "Recently, I feel chest discomfort and that's why I put on my mask. My child wears a mask but I normally don't. I don't feel good that's why I'm wearing a mask now," Zhang said.
    "He's been coughing and breathing heavily again and again this month, and he never fully recovers," said 27-year-old Dong Jianxia whose four-month old son is also suffering from the pollution.
    Pollution alerts are common in northern China, especially during bitterly cold winters when energy demand, much of it met by coal, soars.
    The Ministry of Environmental Protection said it hadn't issued a smog red alert, the highest warning, because of discrepancies in the forecasts for different parts of Beijing.
    China is in the third year of a war on pollution aimed at reversing the damage done to its skies, soil and water after decades of untrammelled economic growth. But measures taken so far have had little or no effect.
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