Hong Kong Air Pollution Hits 'serious' Level

The Environmental Protection Department is urging people to spend less time outdoors, as air pollution levels have risen gradually since Wednesday morning.

The department warned that the Air Quality Health Index, a scale measuring the short-term impact of current air pollution on people's health, may reach a "serious" level at some monitoring stations later on Wednesday.

It said under the influence of Tropical Cyclone Danas in the region, the weather in Hong Kong has become hazy, with light winds.

Higher than normal levels of ozone and particulates have been recorded in the territory since noon.

At 4pm, Danas was centred about 510 kilometres southeast of Gaoxiong. It was forecast to move north at about 22 kilometres per hour towards the vicinity of Taiwan.