(Bloomberg) — Thai officials shut hundreds of schools in Bangkok on Wednesday as some of the world’s most toxic air hung over the city. The metropolis of about 10 million people closed 437 government schools until Friday, its local authority said, prompting private institutions to follow suit. The air quality index, or AQI, was around 170 in the afternoon, the fourth-worst major urban reading globally, according to data from AirVisual, which tracks pollution levels. Bangkok is grappling with a severe seasonal deterioration in air quality for the second year in a row. Bangkok received more then 20 million international overnight visitors in 2017, the highest such figure in the world, a Mastercard Inc. gauge shows.

Source: National Post January 30, 2019 20:37 UTC