Air quality in India’s capital dipped to ‘hazardous’ levels Friday after the festival of Diwali was celebrated with the usual widespread use of fireworks, defying a citywide ban.

According to the Air Quality Index (AQI), most locations in Delhi were recording an AQI above 500 on Friday morning, with the index maxing out at 999 in a few locations.

The AQI measures the concentration of PM2.5 particulates per cubic meter of air, which in high amounts can cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease.

The World Health Organization deems anything above an annual average of 5 micrograms as unsafe — the average reading in Delhi on Friday was 706 micrograms, according to Reuters.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal issued a ban on firecrackers last month in an effort to control the city’s pollution levels, however Diwali firecracker celebrations on Thursday mostly proceeded as normal and likely worsened the smog.
At the United States embassy in New Delhi the AQI stood at 197 on Wednesday morning. By Friday the AQI was recorded at 492 and classified as ‘hazardous’.

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A report published in September by the US-based research group Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), found that poor air quality in India could be reducing the life expectancy of hundreds of millions of people by as much as nine years.

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