Heavy haze continued to blanket much of Israel of Israel on Sunday, with Tel Aviv still ranking as the world's most polluted city despite a slight improvement in conditions. Jerusalem improved its standing somewhat, dropping to fourth place on the global pollution index.
The Environmental Protection Ministry and the Health Ministry said air pollution remained high to very high due to elevated levels of respirable particles carried into the region by dust from North Africa on southwesterly winds. The high pollution levels are linked to the slow settling of dust that was transported to Israel on Saturday, the ministries said.
The affected areas include Gush Dan, Jerusalem, the coastal plain, the Sharon region, the inland Shfela, Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Negev, the Arava and Eilat.
Dr. Osnat Yifrach-Streichman, head of the Pulmonary Institute at Rabin Medical Center's Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva, warned that such weather conditions can aggravate respiratory illnesses, particularly among patients with chronic lung diseases.
"The significance of this kind of weather is that it can worsen respiratory diseases, especially in patients with chronic lung conditions," Yifrach-Streichman said. "The most common are asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Therefore, on days like these we recommend avoiding strenuous outdoor physical activity, staying indoors, keeping windows and doors closed, and maintaining indoor air as clean as possible."
In light of the conditions, Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry and the Health Ministry advised sensitive populations, including heart patients, lung patients, the elderly, children and pregnant women, to avoid strenuous outdoor exercise. The general public was urged to limit intense outdoor physical activity.
Air quality is forecast to improve gradually and slowly throughout Sunday. From the afternoon hours, moderate to high pollution levels are expected nationwide, except in the Eilat area and the southern Arava, where high pollution is still forecast.
On Monday, moderate to high air pollution is expected across all of Israel.
The ministry said it would continue to update the public as necessary, based on forecasts and data measured at monitoring stations nationwide.
