Malaysia has lifted the state of haze emergency in Sarawak on Borneo island, although authorities warned that air pollution remains at “very unhealthy” levels due to ongoing forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
The emergency was activated by Kuala Lumpur on Friday after securing royal consent, following critical air pollution levels in Serian, a town about 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Sarawak’s capital Kuching, reports AFP.
On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that King Sultan Ibrahim had approved the termination of the emergency declaration.
“The haze situation in Sarawak has not yet fully recovered, and the API (Air Pollution Index) reading in several areas… is still at very unhealthy levels,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in an official statement.
Serian’s API reading exceeded the critical threshold of 500 on Friday, reaching a peak of 519 as thick smoke blanketed the town.
Under Malaysian air quality guidelines, API readings above 300 are considered hazardous, while levels exceeding 500 trigger a local emergency declaration.
Rainfall on Friday night and Saturday morning provided some relief and was believed to have resulted from cloud-seeding operations. The Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board said the rain helped bring Serian’s API reading down to the low 200s by Monday.
Toxic haze has affected parts of Indonesia and Malaysia for weeks, with Jakarta struggling to contain forest fires that have burned large areas across Borneo and Sumatra.
The smoke has crossed international borders, affecting neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
