3,750 people died due to air pollution in Tehran in 2019
An official from the Iranian Ministry of Health says that in 2020, 3,751 deaths occurred in Tehran related to the consequences of air pollution and the presence of suspended particles in the air of the Iranian capital.
Abbas Shahsoni, head of the Ministry of Health's "Air Health Group," also said in an interview published by ISNA News Agency on Monday, December 1, that due to weather and drought forecasts, the concentration of air pollutants will increase further in December.
According to Mr. Shahsoni, the average concentration of suspended particles in Iranian cities last year was almost 6 times the World Health Organization guidelines.
Mohammad Sadeq Hassanvand, head of the Air Pollution Research Center at the University of Tehran, had previously reported in May this year that 40,000 people in Iran die prematurely each year due to air pollution.
As the country's temperature gradually decreases, inversion and stable weather conditions have begun in several metropolitan cities of the country, as is the case every year, since the beginning of this week.
On Saturday, November 12, the Iranian Meteorological Organization issued a "yellow warning" regarding the intensification of air pollution in Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Arak, and Karaj, asking citizens to avoid unnecessary travel in these areas.
These statistics and warnings are being announced at a time when, on January 29, the pollution index in some Iranian cities, including Tehran and Isfahan, passed the red level and in some areas reached "purple level," meaning very unhealthy.
Many experts and even officials had stated that the reason for the critical air pollution last winter was the replacement of diesel fuel in power plants due to a gas shortage.
Source: Radio Farda
