Beijing Reopens Schools as Smog Eases After Pollution Red Alert
- Contamination levels fall below WHO threshold in city center
- Jump in pollution coincided with Paris climate change talks
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Beijing authorities reopened schools and eased travel restrictions after the thick smog that blanketed the city and prompted the first-ever red-alert warning for air pollution began to thin.
The concentration of PM2.5 pollution, considered the most dangerous to health, stood at 15 micrograms per cubic meter as of 4 p.m. Thursday near Tiananmen Square, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center. That compares to an average level of 207 micrograms over the past 24 hours.