Petaling Jaya (The Star/ANN) - Raging fires in Sumatra and Borneo are enveloping large parts of Malaysia in haze with more than 500 hotspots detected over the last two days.
Satellite images showed 217 hotspots in Sumatra on Sunday, and over 300 in Borneo and 13 in the peninsula as at 6am yesterday.
The Department of Environment's Air Pollutant Index (API) has recorded moderate air quality readings for most parts of the country.
Health experts have urged patients with lung diseases not to go out into the open. They have also been advised to drink more water.
On Monday, moderate air quality readings of between 51 and 100 were recorded in 82% or 43 areas in the country as of 5pm compared to 73% or 36 areas at 11am and 67% at 5pm Sunday.
The remaining areas were still within the healthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings of between 0 to 50.
The South East Asia Fire Danger Rating System also listed as "extreme" (very high probability) for fires to start and spread in most parts of the peninsula, Sumatra, Sarawak and a big portion of Kalimantan. It also noted that grass fuels were highly flammable.
According to an the Meteorological Department (MMD) spokesperson, the weather is expected to be dry at least until Wednesday where showers are forecast in the west coast of the peninsula and thunderstorm in the east coast.
Isolated thunderstorms are only expected to kick in later in the week.
"Sabah and Sarawak are expected to be fair today with showers in Limbang, Miri, Sandakan and the interiors of Sabah and Tawau," the spokesperson said, adding that haze was a normal occurrence at this time of the year due to the dry weather conditions.
He added that wind conditions could have blown the smoke plumes here.
According to the Singapore weather website's regional hazemap, scattered hotspots with some smoke plumes were detected over central Sumatra on Monday, adding that showers had eased hotspots in other parts of Sumatra.
Hotspots could go undetected due to cloudy or overcast conditions.
Dry conditions are expected to persist until September due to the southwest monsoon.
