ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province have made face masks mandatory for traffic police and sanitation workers as smog levels worsen in Lahore and other cities, according to an official statement on Tuesday.

Punjab, and its capital Lahore, face a recurring “smog season” from October to February, driven by crop-residue burning, vehicular and industrial emissions and stagnant winter weather conditions. The hazy blanket has previously pushed the Air Quality Index (AQI) above 300 in Lahore, a hazardous level that forced school and office closures in November 2024.

As of 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, Lahore ranked as the second most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 174, just behind New Delhi’s 197, while Karachi placed ninth with 123, according to the World Air Quality Index.

“Wearing masks has been made mandatory for traffic police and Suthra Punjab teams in the province under the directives of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif,” the Punjab government said in a statement, adding that senior officers had been instructed to ensure strict compliance.

Lahore, a city of around 14 million people, has begun using anti-smog guns for the first time this month in an effort to reduce airborne pollutants. Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a social media post last week the initiative had helped decrease air pollution by 70 percent, citing data from the city’s environmental monitoring system.

She shared a video showing anti-smog trucks spraying fine water mist across major roads to help settle dust and other particulate matter.

Punjab residents have, in the past, spent months breathing concentrations of PM2.5, microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, at levels more than 20 times higher than World Health Organization recommendations.

Smog can cause sore throats, eye irritation and respiratory illness, while long-term exposure increases the risk of stroke, heart disease and lung cancer.

Children are particularly vulnerable due to higher breathing rates and weaker immune systems.

Pakistani authorities also warned wind patterns on Tuesday showed smog-laden air drifting from Amritsar toward Lahore and Faisalabad at 5 km/h, from Ludhiana toward Sahiwal and from Haryana toward southern Punjab, including Burewala, Bahawalpur and Multan.