Fireworks set off to celebrate the Diwali festival have worsened the air quality in India’s capital New Delhi, making it the most “hazardous” in the world.

The city’s air quality index (AQI) measurement hit 442 on Tuesday morning, according to Swiss air quality firm IQAir.

As happens every year, the widespread use of fireworks on Monday evening to mark the festival of lights added to the pollution released in cooler months by traffic, industry and agriculture to make New Delhi the globe’s most polluted major city, IQAir said.

The concentration of PM2.5 – tiny airborne particles small enough to enter the lungs and cause serious illness – in the city’s air on Tuesday morning was more than 59 times the World Health Organization’s recommended annual guideline.

India’s Central Pollution Co

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