Haze eases in Lubok Antu, but Kanowit air remains ‘very unhealthy’ at midday

File photo of the haze in Serian, which had an API reading of 186 on September 23, 2026 at noon. The air in Kanowit remains Sarawak’s worst on the same day, logged at 208 at noon. — Bernama pic

First Published: Wednesday, 23 Sep 2026 1:32 PM MYT

KUCHING, Sept 23 — Lubok Antu moved out of the very unhealthy category by noon today after its Air Pollutant Index (API) reading dropped from 205 at 8am to 195.

The improvement left Kanowit as the only station in Sarawak recording a very unhealthy reading at noon, with its API at 208, down from 244 at 8am.

Despite the improvement, Lubok Antu remained in the unhealthy category, according to the latest API readings from the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) Status for Sarawak.

Most monitoring stations across Sarawak also remained in the unhealthy category at noon, with readings ranging from 105 to 195.

Serian recorded the highest unhealthy reading at 186, followed by Sri Aman at 180, Betong at 178, Belaga at 174 and Samarahan at 173.

Kuching registered 179, while Bintulu was at 170, Sarikei 168, Sibu 167, Miri 161 and Samalaju 162.

Other readings included ILP Miri at 158, Tebedu 159, Mukah and Limbang 153 each, Lundu 128, Lawas 129 and Kapit 121.

Bario was the only station outside the unhealthy and very unhealthy categories, recording a moderate reading of 74 at noon compared with 33 at 8am.

Under the API classification, readings of 0–50 are considered good, 51–100 moderate, 101–200 unhealthy and 201–300 very unhealthy. — The Borneo Post