China's Meteorological Administration notified local bureaus Tuesday to "immediately stop issuing smog alerts", according to a photo of a notice posted on China's Twitter-like social media platform Weibo. Instead, the local departments can issue alerts for "fog" when visibility is less than 10 km, according to the notice. "A joint alerting mechanism will be formulated to consult how to and who should issue alerts for smog," the representative said. One single department will now be responsible for issuing smog alerts, The Paper reported. The Chinese government has a colour-coded system of smog alerts, topping out at red when severe pollution is likely to last more than 72 hours.

Source: The Nation Bangkok January 18, 2017 05:48 UTC