Overview
- Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI was 366 on Sunday and eased to roughly 316–324 on Monday morning, still in the ‘very poor’ band, with several stations earlier touching ‘severe’ levels and a season peak of 388 Sunday morning.
- Official forecasts (AQEWS) indicate air quality is very likely to turn ‘severe’ on Tuesday before slipping back to ‘very poor’ on Wednesday.
- Lahore’s air quality reached a ‘hazardous’ US AQI of 471 on Monday morning per IQAir, with extremely high local readings reported across the city and other Punjab hubs also logging dangerous levels.
- Punjab ordered all schools, colleges and special education centres to open no earlier than 8:45 am from Nov 3 to Jan 31, 2026, and intensified enforcement by demolishing an illegal steel mill, sealing brick kilns and issuing fines.
- Weak winds and low dispersion are driving the spike; Delhi has restricted entry of older commercial vehicles and deployed water sprinklers, while DSS data shows transport as the top PM2.5 contributor and stubble burning relatively low around 3.5% on Sunday.