This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 5, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: The serious haze situation continues to disrupt daily activities around the country, with all schools in Peninsular Malaysia except Kelantan ordered to close for two days starting today and two airports remaining closed yesterday.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said for Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak, the ministry would be monitoring the haze hourly before deciding on what to do, Bernama reported.

Speaking at a press conference in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Ampang in Alor Setar yesterday, he said for now the PT3, SPM, STPM and STAM examinations would take place according to schedule.

The ministry, the state education departments and schools were told to supply masks to students sitting for examinations, he said.

Mahdzir said there is no need for replacement of school days closed due to the haze.

The Malaysian Insider reported that the air quality deteriorated further yesterday morning with the air pollutant index (API) reading in Shah Alam hitting the hazardous level.

At 9am yesterday, the Department of Environment said the API reading in Shah Alam recorded 308, breaching the “hazardous” API level of 301.

Five other areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur remained “very unhealthy: Batu Muda in Kuala Lumpur (271), Petaling Jaya (256), Banting (249), Port Klang (243) and Putrajaya (235).

API readings of between 0 and 50 indicate good air quality; 51 to 100 moderate; 101 to 200 unhealthy; 201 to 300 very unhealthy; and over 301 hazardous.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said operations at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport reopened at 9.15am yesterday morning, after it was declared closed earlier when visibility was reduced to 350m at 6.35am.

However, two other airports, Sultan Abdul Halim Airport in Alor Setar and Sultan Azlan Shah Airport in Ipoh, remained closed until further notice, MAHB said in a series of tweets.

The visibility for both airports was 500m as of 7.20am and 7.30am respectively yesterday morning.

Operations at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International

Airport 2 in Sepang continued as normal.

The worsening situation also forced the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon to be cancelled yesterday. — Bernama/The Malaysian Insider