Air pollution in Indian capital Delhi closes schools, sparks protests and warning for sick people to escape

New Delhi – Authorities in India’s capital have urged primary schools to hold classes online, banned construction and urged people to work from home as the annual plague of air pollution reaches the “severe” category in a health alert system for the first time this season. For the first time, the toxic air has sparked anti-government protests and a warning to people with health problems to simply leave Delhi if they can.

The severe designation indicates potentially serious health impacts for people with impaired immune systems and negative effects even for healthy people, according to India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The emergency measures were announced after Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) rose sharply to 425. An AQI between 400 and 450 is classified as “severe” and, as a rule, requires authorities to implement emergency measures under the government’s phased pollution response plan.

Air quality in India’s capital deteriorates sharply every year at this time due to a number of factors, including the burning of agricultural waste and seasonal weather conditions, but activists say authorities have not done enough to contain air pollution.

For the first time, hundreds of people protested against poor air quality at Delhi’s India Gate over the weekend.

Several protesters wore gas masks as a symbolic act of protest and held signs, including one that read: “I miss breathing.”

Earlier this month, one of the city’s top pulmonologists, Dr. Gopi Chand Khilnani, urged people with health problems who can afford to leave Delhi temporarily to do so.

“Everyone cannot afford to leave Delhi, because it is not easy,” Khilnani told The Indian Express. “But for those who have chronic lung diseases or chronic heart diseases, those who need oxygen and those who have the opportunity and ability to go abroad or to less polluted places, I strongly advise them to leave Delhi for 6-8 weeks from now, to protect themselves from the distress of shortness of breath, need for oxygen, etc., etc..”

Toxic air is affecting the health of people in the city regardless of underlying health problems, and many Delhi residents have complained of respiratory problems and eye irritation this week.

“Every breath in Delhi NCR [National Capital Region] “Today it has a significant health toll – we are seeing more patients struggling with shortness of breath, asthma and heart problems, especially among children, the elderly and those with chronic diseases,” Dr Harshal Ramesh Salve of the Center for Community Medicine at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) told a group of journalists on Monday.

A recent report in the Lancet medical journal, Countdown on Health and Climate Change 2025, included a grim warning for India: The country recorded around 1.72 million deaths from outdoor air pollution in 2022, a staggering 38 percent increase from 2010.