The haze that reduced visibility for a few days till Monday did not mean Beijing’s air quality was bad, a senior city environmental official said Tuesday.
“Clouds and haze are not pollution. This kind of weather is a natural phenomenon. It has nothing to do with pollution,” said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing municipal bureau of environmental protection.
A rare dry spell last week is to blame for the haze that shrouded Beijing a couple of weeks before the Olympic Games, Du said at his sixth press conference in five days at the Main Press Center.
But Monday night’s showers and strong breeze drove away the haze, offering residents a blue sky Tuesday morning. The city’s air pollution index was 90, which denotes good air quality.