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The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), a new air pollution information system launched by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), will come into operation tomorrow (December 30) to communicate the health effects of air pollution to the public in a more effective and timely manner.
The AQHI has been undergoing a trial run at a number of selected air quality monitoring stations since December 23. Starting from tomorrow, the AQHI will fully replace the existing Air Pollution Index for reporting at all 15 air quality monitoring stations in Hong Kong.
The AQHI is reported on a scale of 1 to 10 and 10+, and is grouped into five health risk categories, i.e. low, moderate, high, very high and serious. It also provides health advice for people with different degrees of susceptibility to air pollution.
A spokesman for the EPD said today (December 29), "The AQHI is a health risk-based index that estimates the short-term health risk caused by air pollution. It is calculated based on the cumulative health risk attributable to the three-hour moving average concentrations of four air pollutants, namely ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10)."
The spokesman added, "The new system will provide AQHI forecasts twice a day. The forecasts will alert the public ahead of the onset of serious air pollution episodes and help the public in considering whether to take precautionary measures to protect their health."
To facilitate the timely and effective dissemination of AQHI information, the EPD has also developed a dedicated AQHI free mobile application, "HK AQHI", a new initiative with features to enable smartphone users to select AQHI information by district, risk category and alert.
The new "HK AQHI" mobile app and all other AQHI information including the real-time AQHI, the AQHI forecast, health advice and an alert wizard for computers are available on the new AQHI website at www.aqhi.gov.hk. The public may also call the AQHI hotline on 2827 8541 for AQHI-related information.
In addition to releasing the hourly AQHI, the EPD will also publish on the AQHI website an annual Air Quality Index for communicating the health risks caused by long-term exposure to fine suspended particulates, respirable suspended particulates and nitrogen dioxide.
To extend the air quality monitoring network of Hong Kong, a new air quality monitoring station located in Tuen Mun will also start operating tomorrow to provide local air pollution information to people in the neighbourhood.
Ends/Sunday, December 29, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:00
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