NEW DELHI: Pulmonologist Ashish Jain has been busier than usual in recent weeks.

Pollution has choked the air in Delhi, forcing residents to mask up as they did during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More and more patients are coming to Dr. Jain’s clinic, complaining of a range of respiratory problems ranging from coughing and wheezing to worsening asthma symptoms.

“The number of admissions to hospitals has increased,” said the director and head of Respiratory Medicine at Max Healthcare, adding that there was also an increase in intensive care unit admissions as well as a rate of higher mortality.

New alarms have been raised over the public health risk that kills more than 2 million people in India each year, according to the medical journal BMJ – the second highest death rate after China.

Last week was one of Delhi’s most polluted weeks this year, with the average air quality index fluctuating between unhealthy and hazardous. It fell to a severe level in some regions on Tuesday, November 5.

Experts blamed the extended Diwali celebrations last weekend, when thousands of people defied a ban on lighting firecrackers, the worst air quality Delhi has seen in two years.

The Supreme Court also asked the city police to explain why the ban, intended to control pollution levels, was not enforced effectively.

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Delhi’s air quality is often ranked among the worst of any major city in the world due to industrial and vehicular emissions, dust and the burning of crop remains in neighboring states.

This year, studies showed that the city’s sources of pollution and its inability to control them were bigger factors.