Nepal closes schools as air pollution hits alarming levels

Located between big polluters China and India, Nepal is seeing the worst pollution levels since 2016.

Nepal has ordered schools to close for four days after air pollution climbed to hazardous levels, forcing millions of students to stay home across the country. The country of 30 million people lies in the Himalayas between China and India, two of the world’s biggest polluters. Air pollution is a chronic problem in the rapidly growing capital city of Kathmandu and an additional headache for the government, which is struggling to contain the coronavirus pandemic.