Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Overall improvement in air quality in China in the first quarter.

Today, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held its regular April press conference. Officials stated at the conference that in the first quarter of this year, overall air quality in China improved, and overall surface water quality remained stable. Regarding air quality: the average PM2.5 concentration in 339 cities at or above the prefectural level was 40.6 micrograms per cubic meter, a 1.2% year-on-year decrease; the average PM10 concentration was 63 micrograms per cubic meter, a 3.1% year-on-year decrease; the proportion of days with good air quality was 76.4%, a 0.1 percentage point increase year-on-year; the proportion of days with severe and above pollution was 1.6%, a 0.2 percentage point decrease year-on-year. In the key areas, the air quality in the Yangtze River Delta region continued to improve, with a 2.3% decrease in the average PM2.5 concentration year-on-year. Regarding surface water: the proportion of excellent water quality in Class I to Class III was 89.5%, while the proportion of poor water quality in Class V was 0.9%, overall remaining stable.