Beijing along with over 30 Chinese cities blanketed by heavy smog

BEIJING: Beijing along with over 30 other cities in China has been shrouded in heavy smog amid the Chinese capital's second-ever red alert cautioning people about highly polluted air.

The smog-hit area around Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and neighbouring regions, which stretched across 560,000 square km on Saturday expanded to cover 660,000 square km today, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said citing satellite remote sensing readings.

Over half of the 70 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are affected by heavy or serious pollution, state run Xinhua quoted it as saying.

The ministry said the smog is likely to linger till Tuesday and is expected to ease from Wednesday.

Beijing has issued a red alert, the most serious level in the four-tier colour-coded pollution warning system, for the smog, limiting vehicles on roads and banning fireworks and outdoor barbecue.

Tianjin and some other cities have issued an orange alert.

The second red alert took effect at 7 AM yesterday and will last till 12 PM Tuesday.

Beijing issued its first alert against smog on December 6.