NEW DELHI: A toxic haze blanketed India’s capital on Monday as air pollution levels soared to more than 16 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.

New Delhi and its metropolitan region, home to more than 30 million people, are regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals.

Cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic.

Pollution has also spiked due to days of fireworks set off to mark Diwali, the major Hindu festival of lights culminating on Monday night.

Levels of PM2.5, cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream, hit 248 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of the city according to monitoring organisation IQAir.

The government’s Commission of Air Quality Management said air quality is expected to further deteriorate in coming days.

Authorities implemented measures to curb pollution including ensuring uninterrupted power supply to reduce diesel generator use.

City authorities will trial cloud seeding by aeroplanes for the first time over Delhi this month to induce rain and clear the air.

“We’ve already got everything we need to do the cloud seeding”, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told reporters this month.

A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.

The UN children’s agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections. – AFP