Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Thursday that Singapore is looking into which companies may be responsible for the forest and peatland fires in Indonesia that have caused the worsening haze.
“Where warranted, we will take action under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, and explore joint action with other countries,” he said in a social media post.
On Thursday, the 24-hour PSI peaked at 212 in the west – a new high for Singapore this year.
On Wednesday, 1-hour PM2.5 readings spiked around the country, with the reading in the west rising to a level not seen in Singapore since 2015. It stood in the very high band for most of the hours from 2pm to 8pm, peaking at 288
During a severe haze episode in October 2015, Singapore recorded an hourly PM2.5 reading of 471 in the western region at 11pm on Oct 19.
It is the highest reading in the publicly available log of hourly PM2.5 readings published by the National Environment Agency (NEA), which dates back to April 2014.
The government on Wednesday brought forward the phased distribution of masks to vulnerable Singaporeans after the PM2.5 reading in the west reached the very high band.
The Haze Task Force had earlier said last Friday that N95 masks would be distributed to more vulnerable individuals when the 24-hour PSI exceeded 200 and entered the very unhealthy range.
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said the mask distribution exercise was launched early because the government had forecast that 1-hour PM2.5 readings were “likely to continue spiking”. This would bring up 24-hour PSI readings as well.
Haze shelters at community clubs and selected Residents’ Committee and Residents’ Network centres have also been set up.