Pollution sees small rise last month; coal, vehicles are blamed

Most cities in China saw a slight rise in air pollution last month, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in its monthly report on Thursday.

In the 337 cities measured, 76 percent of days in February had good air quality. However, that was 2.3 percentage points less than February last year on average.

The report said the average PM2.5 density nationwide rose by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 55 micrograms per cubic meter, and that northern cities contributed more polluting particles than did cities in the Yangtze River Delta region.