Surging pollution(1) levels are driving panicked residents(2) of the Indian capital, Delhi, to queue up for face masks, leading to shortages across the city, as the BBC's Vikas Pandey reports.
"I am ready to wait for an entire day, but I am not going without buying masks(3) today," an angry customer shouts at a shop assistant in Delhi's Khan Market shopping center. Others join the commotion(4) as shop assistants(5) struggle to pacify angry customers, some of whom have been waiting for more than two hours to buy masks. It's not difficult to understand people's desperation(6) because Delhi has witnessed alarming(7) levels of pollution in recent(8) days.
Levels of tiny particulate matter (known as PM 2.5) that enter deep into the lungs reached as high as 800 micrograms per cubic meter last week. That is 30 times a mean guideline set by the World Health Organization(9) (WHO) of 25 micrograms per cubic meter on average over a 24-hour period.
Schools have been shut and people have been advised to work from home. Most people said that they had no other choice but to buy face masks and air purifiers(10).