The famous cat statue at Jalan Padungan can be seen wearing a ‘N95 face mask’ in light of the present haze situation affecting the city.
KUCHING: The Kuching City South Council’s iconic cat statue at Jalan Padungan has been dressed up today to reflect the plight city folks are now facing with the haze.
The white cat was given a face mask with ‘N95’ stamped on it in reference to the type of mask recommended to prevent the inhalation of the fine particles in the smoke which are emitted by forest fires.
In the statue’s raised left paw is also a banner advising the public on other measures they should take to protect themselves.
MBKS regularly dresses up the statue to mark festive seasons and other major occasions or events.
In 2015, the statue, which was erected during the elevation of Kuching to city status in 1988, also donned a surgical mask when the haze made a brief return.
Meanwhile, the air quality has improved somewhat today with an air pollutant index reading (API) of 156 as of 7pm.
An API reading of zero to 50 is ‘good’, 51 to 100 is ‘moderate’, 101 to 200 is ‘unhealthy’, 201 to 300 ‘very unhealthy’ and 301 and above is ‘hazardous’.
The readings in the city in the last two days had been ‘very unhealthy’.