Delhi AQI 494 International Monitoring App IQAir Shows 1600 What is Difference Explained

The air quality in Delhi NCR has seriously deteriorated, in other words it has become poisonous. If you also live in Delhi NCR, then you must be checking the air quality. Although the Air Quality Index (AQI) nowadays shows air quality between 450 to 500, but if you check it on IQAir, you may see this figure even up to 1,600. If you are thinking that this app is giving false information or there is some glitch in it, then you are wrong, because the data shown by IQAir is calculated through another method. Let us tell you about it in detail.

IQAir is an international air quality index monitoring app, according to which, currently the maximum AQI of Delhi is 1,600, while according to the website of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in India, the worst figure in Delhi was between 450 to 500. Actually, this happens due to the standards of measuring AQI in India and globally. According to NDTV, the PM 2.5 scale in India is 60, whereas in some countries that follow the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, it is five or ten. Similarly, India’s AQI is capped at 500 – which means any AQI higher than this is a big warning that pollution levels are extremely severe.

According to CPCB, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered good, between 51 and 100 satisfactory, between 101 and 200 moderate, between 201 and 300 poor, between 301 and 400 very poor, between 401 and 450 Between 450 and 500 is considered very serious.

On the other hand, IQAir – which is based on the US model, shows AQI above 500 as ‘hazardous’. Let us tell you that IQAir has also installed its sensors in some areas of Delhi-NCR, through which the app monitors the pollution of Delhi. However, we should give more importance to CPCB’s data, as the government agency currently has 40 real-time air quality monitoring stations working in Delhi.