In pictures: India's heavy smog

The severity of the pollution since Oct 28, 2019, forced the Delhi state government to declare a rare public health emergency on Friday (Nov 1), a day recorded as the most polluted in around two years with an average air quality index (AQI) of 484. It ordered all schools in Delhi to be shut until Tuesday (Nov 5) and began distributing five million face masks to schoolchildren in the city.

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