Faced with increasing smog, the Pakistani province of Punjab declared a state of health emergency on Friday November 15.

According to Reutersthe province banned construction, extended school closures for another week and shifted universities to online classes.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Muslims gathered at over 600 government mosques in the province for ‘Namaz-e-Istisqa’ to pray for rain and forgiveness.

Every winter, the province and northern states face smog caused by a combination of falling temperatures, smoke, dust, vehicle emissions, low wind speeds and burning of crop stubble.

Punjab Chief Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, addressing a press conference announcing measures to combat smog, said the government had ordered closure of construction activities, brick kilns and kiln factories in Lahore and Multan.

She further said that there would be a complete three-day lockdown starting next Friday if the situation does not improve.

On the other hand, Delhi and its surrounding areas also experience dangerous pollution levels that pose a serious threat to public health.

On Thursday, the amount of fine particles in the air was more than 50 times higher than the safety limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

A study published in The Lancet in July revealed that 7.2% of daily deaths in the city could be linked to fine particle pollution.