Thick smog ahead of Olympics

The Chinese capital is blanketed in thick air pollution, but a city environmental official has pledged that air quality would be “good” by the time the Summer Olympics start in 12 days.

The greyish haze today was is the worst seen in Beijing in the past month. That’s despite strict traffic restrictions enacted to reduce the city’s notorious air pollution.

Du Shaozhong is deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. He told reporters: “The air quality in August will be good.”

Mr Du blamed the thick haze on a combination of fog and low winds that were not able to blow away the pollution. But he added that compared to days with the same weather conditions a year ago, pollution levels had decreased by 20 percent.