New Delhi aims to improve air quality with purifier

A public air purifier has been installed in New Delhi as part of a trial to see if the contraption could help cut the smog problem in the city.

Health chief for the area's municipal council PK Sharma described to AFP how the performance of the machine will be monitored by seeing what effect it has on air quality in the surrounding area.

The news wire reported that the item was plugged in on Saturday in what is a pilot programme to test the effectiveness of the device, which was built by Systemlife and is supposed to be able to purify 10,000 cubic metres of air each hour.

Mr Sharma was quoted as saying: "It is the first such project in India and if it works then we would acquire a number of them and place them at strategic locations."

This week, the Hong Kong government issued a health warning after two of three air monitoring stations in the area surpassed 100 on the air pollution index, according to the Environment Protection Department.