Delhi residents woke up to ‘severe’ air quality on Thursday morning (November 14), a day after the national capital recorded the worst AQI in the country, with dense fog blanketing the NCR, reducing visibility.

Industrial activities and vehicular traffic are significant contributors to air pollution in the city, along with rampant construction. For the past many years, every year ahead of winter the air quality in Delhi has become hazardous.

Delhi's air quality turned 'severe' for the first time this season on Wednesday, with the AQI soaring to 418. In comparison, the national capital's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) -- recorded at 4 pm every day -- stood at 334 on Tuesday.

Air pollution in India's national capital increased to 'severe' on an official index on Wednesday for the first time this season as temperatures and wind speeds dropped, reducing visibility and affecting some flights.

Delhi overtook Pakistan ’s Lahore as the world’s most polluted city in Swiss group IQAir’s live rankings, with an air quality index (AQI) score of more than 1,000, which is considered “hazardous”, but India ’s pollution authority said the AQI was around 350.

Residents of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and nearby areas awoke to a thick layer of smog on Wednesday, which brought visibility down to near-zero levels. The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi stayed in the ‘very poor’ range,