China sees improved air quality: official

BEIJING - China has seen notable improvement of air quality in key regions thanks to its efforts in air pollution control since the beginning of the year, environmental authorities said Thursday.

In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding regions, the number of days with good air quality in November jumped 18.6 percentage points year on year to 63 percent, data from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) showed.

These areas also saw the density of PM2.5 - fine particulate matter that causes smog - slip 25.9 percent to 63 micrograms per cubic meter last month, Liu Youbin, a spokesperson with the MEE, told a press conference.

Other areas also reported improved air quality during the January-November period, with the density of PM2.5 in China's central and southwest regions dropping 22 percent and 13 percent year on year, respectively.

Liu said that effective steps have been taken to curb the trend of rising PM2.5 density seen in some areas.

The MEE will continue to guide local governments in targeted pollution control, transregional joint pollution prevention, and efforts in coping with heavy pollution.