Warning: High levels of pollution across England and Wales!

The government has said that many parts of England and Wales should be braced for "very high" levels of air pollution, on Wednesday!

Environment department Defra said high levels of pollution, recorded yesterday (01.04.2025), would spread in eastern England and the Midlands.

A mix of local emissions and dust blown from the Sahara is moving across southern England, the Midlands, and south Wales.

All British with lung or heart disease are urged to avoid strong exercise outside!

Symptoms: sore eyes and cough

On a 10-point scale for measuring air quality, Defra said yesterday that levels hit the maximum of 10 in north-west Norfolk!

For today they are expected to reach 8 or 9 in most of southern England, the Midlands, and southern Wales, and possibly 10 along England's southern coast.

"Adults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, should reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors, and particularly if they experience symptoms. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often. Older people should also reduce physical exertion", advised Defra. "Anyone experiencing discomfort such as sore eyes, cough or sore throat should consider reducing activity, particularly outdoors".

Andrew Sibley, specialist forecaster for the Met Office, said: "Conditions are going to get worse again as we go through Wednesday and the rest of the week".

"The dust gets caught by rain particles and that's how it ends up being visible on the ground", he added.

A Defra spokeswoman said: "The high level of air pollution this week is due to a combination of local emissions, light winds, pollution from the continent and dust blown over from the Sahara. We want to keep improving air quality and have introduced a new five-day forecast service in addition to investing heavily in local and transport initiatives to tackle this issue head-on".