New monitoring standards join quest to keep pollution at bay

China on Tuesday started to issue daily reports on air quality in 74 major Chinese cities by adopting more extensive monitoring standards, including the level of PM 2.5 - the smallest and most dangerous pollution particles.

Five other pollutants, including ozone and carbon monoxide, were also placed under the new monitoring standard issued in February by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The previous standard only covered PM 10 - particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in size, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.