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Beijing invoked a red alert om Tuesday as the smog reached dangerous levels in China's capital city. Schools were closed and the Tuesday rush hour was much quieter as many factories in the city were closed and the half the vehicles were ordered off the road. The alert that came into effect on Thursday predicted 3 consecutive days of excessive smog in the city. Over the past few years, the air over Beijing has witnessed an improvement, however, the readings of dangerous particles on Tuesday were more than dozen times higher than the safe levels, reports Yahoo News.

Not only were the schools closed, even the number of cars were limited depending on the license plate's last number. There were several other restrictions imposed so that the dust and other particulate matter can be reduced in the city that inhabits 22.5 million people. The public transport strain will be handled by adding more subway trains and buses. This is the second time this month when Beijing has witnessed long bout of smog, propelling the PM2.5 levels to a dangerously high of 976 micrograms, says CBC News.

The polluted air shrouding China has had severe impact on the health of people. A study conducted by atmospheric chemist Jos Lelieveld of Germany's Max Planck Institute was published in Nature magazine this year revealed that more than 1.4 billion people die premature death because of pollution in China every year. Most of this pollution is caused by factories which makes China the biggest emitter of carbon. Chinese government is planning to upgrade its coal power plants in the next 5 years so that they can deal with this problem. However, before it will start to decline, the emissions will reach its peak in 2030, says Indian Express.