Pollution levels in Mumbai continued to be in the ‘very poor’ category on Monday, five days after a fire broke out in a dumping ground at Deonar that authorities have been unable to extinguish. The System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research in Mumbai predicted that the air quality would begin to improve only on Tuesday. On Monday, the air quality index, a pollution indicator, was 308 at 9.30 am and 304 in the evening.

In comparison, Delhi’s AQI was 208 on Monday morning, and dropped to 169 in the evening. SAFAR experts attributed this to a change in wind patterns in the national capital.

Hindustan Times reported that the fire at Deonar, which broke out on Wednesday night, was controlled over the weekend, but small areas of the dumpyard were still burning on Monday. That, along with low temperatures and high humidity levels have attributed to the worsening air quality. Among the most polluted areas were Chembur, close to Deonar, where the AQI was 363 on Monday, and Andheri, 355.

Gufran Beig, project director at SAFAR, said that winds picking up speed would help reduce pollution in the days to come.