Work From Home Is Allowed in Bangkok City As Severe Pollution Covers Thai Capital
Employees at Bangkok City have been instructed to work from home in order to escape the hazardous air pollution that washed over the Thai capital on Thursday.
In order to assist employees in the about 11 million-person metropolis in avoiding the pollution, which is predicted to last until Friday, the municipal officials have requested companies for assistance. On Thursday morning, Bangkok was listed as one of the top 10 most polluting cities in the world by the air monitoring website IQAir.
According to IQAir, levels of the most hazardous PM2.5 particles—particles so small they may enter the bloodstream—were more than 15 times higher than the World Health Organization’s yearly recommendation. Towards the end of Wednesday, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt announced that all city workers will work from home on Thursday and Friday.
He added in a statement that more than 60,000 individuals were impacted, “I would like to ask for cooperation from the BMA network of about 151 companies and organizations, both government offices and the private sector.” The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is shortened to BMA.
According to Chadchart, there will be harmful levels of PM2.5 particles in at least 20 out of Bangkok’s 50 districts, and the issue would persist due to the calm weather. Early in the year, when industrial pollution and car exhaust fumes combine with smoke from farmers burning stubble in the fields, Thailand’s air quality often declines.
On many days last year, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, were included among the world’s most polluted cities. The issue is becoming a public health emergency, with at least two million Thais expected to need medical attention due to pollution by 2023.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s administration, which took office in August, has pledged to make combating air pollution a “national agenda,” and last month, his cabinet approved a draft Clean Air Act. However, the issue still exists, and last month a Chiang Mai court mandated that the government devise a comprehensive strategy to address air pollution within ninety days.
