SINGAPORE: Singapore's air quality is in the unhealthy range with 3-hour PSI of 115 on Saturday at 12 noon.
The highest PSI reading for the year was 130 at 10am on Saturday morning, and the all time high was 226 in 1997.
The 3-hours PSI first entered the unhealthy range at 8am on Saturday morning, with a PSI reading of 101.
The latest satellite pictures showed there were 506 hotspots and thick smoke haze in Sumatra, mainly in Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra, and winds blowing in a southerly to southwesterly direction had brought smoke haze from southern Sumatra to Singapore.
NEA added that the prevailing winds are also transporting the smoke haze towards the Malacca Straits and Peninsular Malaysia.
Hundreds of firefighters in Indonesian Borneo, aided by police and volunteers, were Friday dousing illegal forest fires causing acrid haze that blanketed western parts of the island, officials in the neighbouring country said.
Indonesia's annual burn-off causes a haze that typically smothers parts of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as Indonesia itself.
The NEA advises people with existing heart or respiratory ailments to reduce physical exertion and outdoor activity. - CNA /dt