Dr RIchard

This particularly nasty stretch of disgustingly polluted weather does not bode well for the long winter ahead. It's been so bad that readings were once again off the charts yesterday and many Weibo users have even been wondering if the US Embassy's Air Quality Index monitor had been discontinued due to political wrangling after it inexplicably went offline yesterday and earlier today.

Whether or not this was indeed the case is debatable (at the time of writing the feed was back up and read "338 - Dangerous"), and perhaps the only advice that can be heeded on a day like today is to stay indoors with your air purifier (you do have one, don't you?) set on full blast. Otherwise, it's facemasks, sore throats and sinus infections for the rest of us.

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