Beijing lifts red alert but smog will be back in two days

The blue sky is seen in Beijing on Dec 10, 2015. [Photo/IC]

A new round of wind is forecast to arrive and disperse the air pollutants again since Sunday, meaning the blue sky will back on Monday.

Under the red alert, Beijing adopted the tough restrictions on pollutants emission.

For example, around 2,100 companies in polluting industries stopped or suspended their production and over 3,500 construction sites halted their outdoor works to reduce the dust.

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Severe pollution blankets landmarks in the capital on Tuesday, including (L-R) the China Central Television building, Forbidden City, Beijing National Stadium and Beijing West Railway Station. The images provide a sharp contrast to days with a clear blue sky. Photos on iPad are provided to China Daily by Tao Yuan, Hu Qingming, Li Junfeng and Nipic.com. ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY

Vehicles were ordered to run on alternative days based on their odd-and-even license plate and students at the primary and middle schools were ordered to stay indoors.

The municipal government issued the thank-you letter to the residents at Thursday noon, expressing their appreciation on residents' cooperation in the face of tough restrictions.

Li Shixiang, deputy mayor of Beijing, said the efforts to curb the air pollution turned out effective and the government will build more monitoring stations and mobile monitoring vehicles, to provide more information to facilitate the forecast on smog.

Beijing has 36 air quality monitoring stations scattered in the whole region, which is expected to double, Li said.

"As long as we have the information on the coming severe smog, we will take efforts in advance to curb the air pollution," Li said.