The director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Randeep Guleria, on Saturday cautioned against severe cases of Covid-19 due to rising air pollution as the national capital’s air quality reached dangerous levels. Urging people to wear masks to protect themselves from both Covid and pollution, Guleria said bad air can also have a major impact on respiratory health, especially on people with lung diseases and asthma.

“Pollution can lead to more severe cases of Covid. Should wear a mask as it will help in protection from both Covid-19 and pollution. It has a huge effect on respiratory health especially on people with lung diseases, asthma as their disease worsens,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The AIIMS director also talked about the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) emergency use listing of Covaxin calling it a “proud moment for our country”. “We’ve got approval for a made in India vaccine. Earlier India was a vaccine manufacturing hub but in the last 18 months, we’ve shown that we can do a lot of high-quality research also,” Guleria said.

Delhi witnessed a record rise in air quality index (AQI), which rose to 462, on Friday evening, the highest since 2016. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) blamed opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for encouraging people to burst crackers despite a blanket ban being put in place by the government.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai also accused Opposition parties of giving a “religious colour” to the issue of a cracker ban. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier urged people to not burst firecrackers till January 1.

The BJP, however, hit back at AAP, alleging that Delhi’s pollution levels were in the “hazardous zone” before Diwali and the current predicament is not due to bursting firecrackers.

“Delhi’s AQI was in a hazardous zone even before the crackers came out. Anyone suggesting otherwise is trying to make Arvind Kejriwal look good, who has unleashed a diabolical campaign to dissuade Delhiites from bursting crackers. Poor air quality is a result of anything BUT Diwali,” BJP’s national IT in-charge Amit Malviya wrote in a tweet on Friday.

Air quality in the national capital was expected to drop rapidly as stubble burning in the neighbouring states coincided with Diwali. Around 9pm on Thursday the national capital’s AQI dropped to ‘severe’ for the first time this year.

An analysis done by Hindustan Times suggested that air quality will marginally improve from Sunday evening and fluctuate within the ‘very poor’ range. It also found firecrackers to be the major contributing factor in deterioration of air quality in Delhi.