The air quality in Dhaka showed no signs of improvement, as it continued to be in the ‘unhealthy’ zone this morning.

With an air quality index (AQI) score of 187 at 9:25 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked seventh in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.

Pakistan’s Karachi, Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar and India’s Mumbai occupied the first three spots, with AQI scores of 198, 195 and 194, respectively.

The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues.

As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.