LAHORE, Pakistan — Worsening air pollution has sickened about 1.8 million people in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province over the past month, health officials said Tuesday, as schools in the province were ordered to close for five days to protect children’s health.

Punjab, with a population of 127 million, has been struggling to combat smog since last month.

“More than 1.8 million people visited hospitals and private clinics in smog-hit districts of Punjab in the last 30 days, and most of them were suffering from respiratory illnesses and burning eyes” , said Ahsan Riaz, spokesperson for the ministry. health department.

Earlier, authorities said tens of thousands of people had been treated in hospitals in recent weeks, but Riaz said on Tuesday the number of people affected by smog was much higher and hospitals were inundated with such patients.

The provincewide school closure came more than a week after authorities closed schools in 18 smog-hit districts. Toxic smog has enveloped Pakistan’s cultural capital, Lahore, and 17 other districts of Punjab since October.

It forced the government last week to close all parks and museums for 10 days.

Authorities have urged people to avoid unnecessary travel as a record wave of smog causes respiratory illnesses and eye infections.

The latest developments come a day after the United Nations children’s agency warned that the health of 11 million children in Pakistan’s Punjab province was at risk from air pollution, which it said experts, has become a fifth season in recent years.

According to the Punjab Environmental Protection Department, Multan, a city in the province, remained the most polluted city on Tuesday, with an air quality index of around 700. Anything above 300 is considered dangerous for health.

Authorities ordered mandatory mask wearing, but this was largely ignored. The government also said it was studying methods to cause artificial rainfall to combat pollution.