Beijing, Feb 17 (IANS): Quality of air in major Chinese cities deteriorated in January, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).
The average good air quality days for China's 337 cities, monitored by the ministry, was 67.6 per cent for January, down 3.5 percentage points year-on-year, Xinhua news agency reported.
The average densities of fine particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 increased 8.2 per cent and 5.4 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
Of the 168 cities, closely watched by the ministry, Linfen, a city in north China's major coal producer Shanxi Province, reported the worst air quality, while in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, it was the best.
The share of good air quality days for Beijing dropped 6.5 percentage points year on year, MEE data showed.