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BEIJING, March 21 (TMTPOST) —— The average number of days with relatively clean air in cities at the prefecture level and above decreased in February 2023, while the number of heavy pollution days increased, according to the data released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. 

The average concentration of six major pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, and NO2, rose year-on-year. The concentration of PM2.5 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas and Beijing rose by 47.9 percent and 145.5 percent, respectively, according to the data released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. 

Days with good air quality in 339 cities at or above the prefecture level in February accounted for 83.1 percent of total days in February, down 8.3 percentage points year on year. The average number of days with heavy pollution or above was 1.7 percent, up 0.6 percentage points year on year. Among major pollutants, the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 rose by more than 20 percent year-on-year. Specifically, the average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were 46 and 71 micrograms per cubic meter in February, respectively, up 24.3% and 29.1% year on year. The average concentration of NO2 was 28 micrograms per cubic meter, up 27.3% year on year. The average concentration of O3, SO2, and CO were 104, 10, and 1.1 mg/m3, respectively, up by 6.1%, 11.1%, and 10.0%.

From January to February 2023, 78.5 percent of the days were good and 3.6 percent were heavily polluted in cities, down 3.4 percentage points and up 1.4 percentage points, respectively, according to the report. The average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, O3, and NO2 increased by 8.5%, 19.7%, 6.5%, and 3.8%, respectively, while SO2 remained unchanged and CO decreased by 7.7%.

The average PM2.5 concentration in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas as well as the Fen-Wei Plain in February increased by over 40% year on year, while the average O3 concentration decreased slightly. Both declined in the Yangtze River Delta.

In February 2023, 57.9% of days in cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas were good, down 27.8 percentage points year on year. 4.4 percent of days were with heavy pollution, up 4.4 percentage points year on year. The average PM2.5 concentration increased 47.9% year-on-year to 71 micrograms per cubic meter. The average O3 concentration was 97 micrograms per cubic meter, down by 4.0% year-on-year. Cities with heavy or above pollution days are Anyang, Puyang, Zhengzhou, and others cities.

In Beijing, the number of good days in February accounted for 67.9 percent of the total, down 32.1 percentage points year on year. PM2.5 concentration was 54 micrograms per cubic meter, up 145.5% year on year. The O3 concentration was 79 μg/m3, up 2.6% year on year. It is worth mentioning that in February 2022, the average PM2.5 concentration in Beijing was only 22 micrograms per cubic meter, the highest in history for the same period.

According to the list of cities with heavy pollution days released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment since January 2023, Puyang in Henan Province had 12 heavy pollution days in January and February 2023, the most in China. In addition to periodic factors such as fireworks, heavy diesel trucks, emissions from industrial enterprises, and straw burning in the open air were also to blame, according to the city"s ecology and environment bureau.